It's now Wednesday and here we are in Barcelona, hola.
Monday we spent 10 hours in cars coming back to Coventry from Skye, glad that drive is over but we needed the day in Coventry to get ready for coming here.
Flight was decent enough with Monarch Airlines, except for the six women behind us who were on a girls shopping and beach break and couldn't stop talking and cackling the whole trip, honestly you would think they were having a good time....
Here are some highlights
at Birmingham
another day another airline
there we are above the "a"
Motor yacht "Strangelove" yours for 8 million euro
harbour view
Columbus points the way
no nuggets here, por pavor
Snagria,sparkling wine and doughnuts what more could you ask for
Sunday was a day of exploration on Skye, a trip up the A87 from Broadford to Uig in the north. The scenery was stunning, everywhere was green and verdant, apart from the sea which ranged from grey to blue. Even the buildings were colourful, Portree by it's harbour it seemed that everyone painted their buildings in any paint left over at the local hardware store, but they looked ok.
this is my road..
my countryside....
colourful Portree
cliff top waterfall
Penny on a tussock
happy band
ooh scenery
Skye at its best
CalMac ferry "Hebrides"
Plockton
Monday we went back to Coventry, spending 12 hours in a car, half in Malcolm's half in hours, but we need to be back for a day to prepare for Barcelona. Hola!
Two days in one visiting Marina's old stamping ground.
Scottish Thistle
Eilean Donan Castle, Loch Duich where "Highlander" filmed
Friday on the road....
on the way...
summer snow
proud series 5 BMW owner
yellow gorse
Loch Garry, shaped like a map of Scotland
street cow...
Plockton Harbour
Saturday we took the road through to Glenelg and cross over to Skye at Kylerhae using the last swivel ferry barge in Scotland and maybe the world. When I say swivel check out the movie and all will be revealed. All in fast forward.......
I cannot remember the names and as I'm using Marina's sisters wifi I'll keep it short, here are some photos of Skye and environs...... Saturday...
Of course Thursday being a working day for the Wilde household the kids were at school, Malcolm was in Somerset for a conference and Marina doing her executive thing at her office. So we had the day to ourselves and sorted out a couple of places to visit.
Always wanted to see the Falkirk Wheel, an amazing piece of engineering that replaced a great number of locks on the Forth & Clyde and Union canals. What used to take around 8 hours passing through the locks now takes only 4 minutes and is completely free for boats.
You can see the whole in not 4 minutes but in 39 seconds.
tourist types......
view from 30 metres up
Being the good tourists we are we took the boat ride and used the Wheel, a most amazing ride.
Then onto Stirling Castle which we have seen several times from the motorway but never visited. Built by James IV of Scotland it is a formidable fortress that was used to keep the English out.
I'm having to rush this as we are all about to head for the Highlands and the Isle of Skye so I'll throw a few pictures up together with ones of Ed and Archie, Malcolm and Marina's two dogs, this is were we got our canine fix.
Wednesday is another travelling day, this time north across the border to visit Malcolm, Marina and the kids. Although with the Scottish independence vote imminent it might be take your passport with you when you hit the big sign that says "Welcome to Scotland".
It's an easy run up the M6 but I wish we could find the entrance to the toll roll as you don't get all the road work delays, mind you we say that every time, we can find it coming down but not up.
Made the usual stop at the Stafford services for guess what, you got it Costa coffee. Then a side trip to Windermere in the Lake District for a picnic and some chips from the Eastern European guy the served me last year.
Windermere
Feeding the geese...
The road from Windermere back to the M6 north is narrow and windy and takes you over the Kirkstone Pass, the last time we did it, it was so cold Penny would not get out of the car. Today was warm and sunny and very pleasant.
Tuesday is a travelling day back to Coventry, but we did some things. Early morning we had a look at Portchester Castle.
Portchester Castle
WARNING - History
Portchester Castle is a medieval castle built within a former Roman fort at Porchester to the east of Fareham in the English county of Hampshire. It is located at the northern end of Portsmouth Harbour. Probably founded in the late 11th century, Portchester was a baronial castle taken under royal control in 1154. The monarchy controlled the castle for several centuries and it was a favoured hunting lodge of King John. It was besieged and captured by the French in 1216 before permanently returning to English control shortly thereafter.
Portchester Harbour
Picked up Sue from Lorna's and had a visit with Uncle Steve and his wife Shirley then we headed back to Coventry.
Easy journey followed by a meal at The Farmhouse......... lovely jubbly
Monday, visited the Gun Wharf in Portsmouth for some retail therapy and to meet up with Sue and Lorna. Due to circumstances we opted for a trip across the ocean in the afternoon. I say ocean it's actually called the Solent and the destination, the Isle of Wight. In 2006 we went there and one of the things we wanted to see was Osbourne House, the summer home of Queen Victoria, but after circumnavigating the island we arrived at the house after closing time.
As you might guess it became our first port of call. We hopped on the ferry and in 40 minutes we were driving onto the Isle of Wight and within another 10 minutes we arrived at the house.
HMS Iron Duke off to who knows where.......
Penny off to the Isle of Wight.....
Osbourne House
designed by Prince Albert
summer sun in the garden
checking out the garden
Queen Vic's private beach
Penny's private ice cream
Busby Pete
Do I like butter..... oh Yesssss!
Fascinating place, we spent over two hours looking at the house, gardens and beach. The Queen had her own private beach, when Albert was alive they spent many happy hours here with their children. Albert was from all accounts a devoted father and did a great deal to bring up his children as normal as possible, but of course after he died Victoria was beside herself with grief and although she still came to Osbourne House it was no longer the happy place it once was.
Fun and laughter continued through Sunday on our unexpected visit to Portsmouth. We caught up with niece Lorna two grand nieces Lilia and Elise, again we made for Southsea Common for another D Day 70 event. More 40's music with a different dance band and three cute female singers. The weather was kind to us again with sun and temperatures in the mid twenties, sunburn territory, but with hats we all came through with little damage.
hats on......
Elise , Lilia, Peter and Sherman
Picnic over the Solent
Cute Elise
lovable Lilia
massive crowd at Southsea Common
Nanny and Lilia
Unfortunately at the end of the day Al had to drive home to be ready for work on Monday and he was "really really" keen to get there as he was looking forward it.........
It was not on the itinerary but we went down to Portsmouth with Sue and Al, they went to visit daughter Lorna and the grand kids Lilia and Elise. This place is of course at the centre of the D-Day 70 celebrations so there is a lot of people about. We got down to Portsmouth mid afternoon on Saturday after a visit to the Wellsbourne markets to buy razor blades and lipstick at cheap prices, at this point the weather was very wet and we even bought cheap rain coats while we were there. However on the two hour trip down to the south coast the clouds disappeared and we arrived in bright sunshine.
After meeting up with Sue and Al we all headed off to the Southsea Common for a spot of dinner at Mozarella Joes next to the beach.
Salads in tortilla baskets overlooking the Solent
The D-Day 70 celebrations are in full swing and it turns out the 1940's Concert was on that night about 100 metres from where we had dinner so off we went, Penny found four chairs and we settled in for the concert and what a great night it was. The Royal Marine Assoc Dance Band, local children's choir, The Portsmouth Military Wives Choir and some others. It was very good and very patriotic with Union Jacks everywhere.
We didn't do much today but 70 years ago a great many did...... The anniversary is very big here and rightly so, it brings back memories of our time in Normandy last year.
The stories told by the veterans are incredible, it makes you wonder if you had lived in that time would you have shown the same courage.
Lest we forget.....!
D-Day Landings (1944). A Day that Shook the World. On June 6 1944, Allied troops begin their invasion of Europe with the D-Day landings in Normandy. It was the start of the final phase of WW2.
Incredible headcam footage shows the moment an 89-year-old D-Day veteran parachutes into the same field he landed in 70 years ago. Report by Claire Lomas.
Not much of a romp really but more of a stroll through the gardens, but more later.
Friday started out cold but sunny, so we set off for Ely and later Kings Lynn.
Ely Cathedral which is very large was started in 1083 and build on the highest point in the area known as the Fens, a massive 80 feet. Originally on a island, subsequent draining and the building of roads has created the town of Ely.
Ely Cathedral
Crimean war canon presented by Queen Victoria
Ely was also the place where Oliver Cromwell lived and learnt all of his puritanical traits, of course now you can walk around it, for a fee!
It was also market day and while Penny was buying her third new pair of shoes I was looking around for photo opportunities and came upon some carrots.
Then a journey through Fen country to Kings Lynn, a Hanseatic League port in medieval times. We got to the port, saw the fishing boats and the river but we ended up on the road out then came across the sign for Sandringham Palace, the Queen's Christmas/New Year home. So as we sort of missed Kings Lynn we arrived at Sandringham, again there was a fee, we squired out on the house and chose only the gardens and museum. As it turned out listening to some folk who came out of the house they were disappointed so it looks like we did the right thing.
The gardens were immaculate and very pretty....
The museum was interesting but mostly comprised of cars, toy cars and some photographs.
I want this one...
this is more me......
George VI was so keen on having wood on his shooting brake cars that this was has a walnut bonnet, glad it didn't overheat.
Two day trip to Cambridge and Norfolk. These two places were on this list of places not visited so we though it would be a good opportunity , booked the hotel and off we went. It's only an 80 mile drive from Coventry, a comfortable hour and a half. Weather was kind to us, cloudy but only a few showers of rain. After Penny remembered the name of the hotel we entered it into the satnav and arrived with ease. A nice place overlooking the River Cam then with umbrellas in hand went off for a short walk through the park to the city centre. Luckily we were next to Jesus Green park and not Midsummer Fields as we might not have have made it across given the how often murders occur in Midsummer.
Cambridge is very much like Oxford, great looking looking colleges, plenty of students and many many bicycles. St. Johns College has obviously many business courses as they charge £10 to visit the place, naturally we past them by and paid £1 to go into Trinity College.
Mind you there is a tremendous sense of history here, in the entrance to the chapel, which is in itself beautiful, there are statues of some of the old boys. Isaac Newton, Tennyson and Francis Bacon to name a few
River Cam meandering through Trinity College
After our walk around Cambridge which included another Costa coffee we made it back to the hotel for a wash and brush up before heading back to Cafe Rouge for dinner. The weather improved during dinner, the sun came out so we strolled along the river. There was a family of swans, parents and 2 signets, the cutest thing was the sight of one on the back of one of the swans.
OK, so we're back in Coventry not Wales but it is the land of my father, although come to think of it my grandfather was born in Abergevenny.
Sue and Al in fine form, out for a meal sunday night then a restful day yesterday. Spent some time visiting grandparents and parents at the cemetery and left some flowers, then onto Costa's for a coffee.
I would say that the old place hasn't changed but it's only been 6 months since last time, but the trees are green and flowers are abounding everywhere and the sun is shining. However Wednesday is forecast to be rainy and 15 degrees, urgh! but we will have a good time anyway.
Made last minute plans for the weekend, off to Portsmouth hopefully to see my Uncle and Lorna and the girls.
Friday night in Fleet was England friendly night, the last hit out for the team on English soil before the World Cup in Brazil. This was against Peru and we came out 3-0 winners, not a great performance and the general consensus is a pessimistic one for Englands chances of success, we shall see in a couple of weeks.
High St Fleet with Mia
Mike and Penny
After a weekend of pizza, pizza and more pizza, with a little Indian thrown in....... we said our farewells to Mike and Ro, Mia and Tilly the labradors. Set the satnav for Bicester Outlet Village near Oxford and away we went. I choose the shortest route and it turned out to be inspired. Sunshine, country lanes, pretty villages. This was the first day of summer, everybody with a convertible car had the roof down, anyone with a dog was walking it and all the lycra clad folk were on their two wheelers holding up traffic!
On this trip we made a list of places we wanted to visit, on this list was Henley on Thames and lo and behold the satnav took us through it, so we stopped and went for a walk along the river for a look at the weir and lock. Although this was Henley, scene of the famous regatta, I have to report there was not a single straw boater to be seen, but I did have my fedora on. After a very pleasant hour we headed back to the car and on to Coventry.
After a reasonable sleep at the M4J4 Holiday Inn we made a journey to Brighton and its famous beach! I was interested to see the old West Pier as it was damaged further over the winter. The last time we were here there was quite a bit of superstructure left but now it's just the central area that's left.
on the beach, literally
the Palace Pier, still standing......
Then it was on to Fleet to see Ro and Mike our Arsenal loving friends. Nice to see them again and they have two labradors, Mia and Tilly. Very boisterous, not like Benson but still cute.
Visited the O2 store to get a couple of sim cards and sort out the best data plan. Now this was all very well but my phone battery went flat so went to get the charger. No charger, the last time I saw them was in the M4J4 Holiday Inn. As "Keeper of the Technology" it is my responsibility to make sure the electronics follow us everywhere. I triple checked all the bags, the car and any where else, but no chargers........ this morning contacted the Hotel and asked them to check the room, they had nothing in lost property, so we made plans to visit Maplin (UK answer to Jaycar) and buy another.
Later in the morning as I was drinking coffee Penny arrived from upstairs with the two chargers in hand, she had only looked in one place and there they were, of course I too had looked in the same place and found nothing. My theory is that she had secreted them to fool me.......
Maybe it's an age thing but the Singapore to London leg seems to get longer, obviously a perception thing as the Uk to not drifting further away and the planes are no slower. I'm not sure the flight maps are such a good thing, giving as they do time to destination. 13 hour, 12 hours 30 minutes, you drift off to sleep wake up 12 hours and 10 minutes. Was I only asleep for 20 minutes!!! I must admit once you get to Afganistan and your halfway there its all downhill and it does get a bit quicker. Then there's only an hour to go, your bum is still numb but there is hope that you will get out of this infernal metal tube. Penny has suffered this trip as she started of with a bad chest cold and arrived feeling dreadful. She will soldier on and get better now that she has her feet on terra firma.
There she is, Airbus A380, nice plane but still a metal tube only bigger!
Well we have now arrived and ensconced in M4J4, a Holiday Inn only 2 minutes from the Europcar depot. We had a nice surprise picking up the car, although we had only specified a manual Astra size vehicle on the booking I asked if they had any diesels for the fuel economy. The lovely wonderful person who served us said she would see what she could do, came back and said we do have a Peugeot 3008, "sold" says I, so for the same money we ended up with a bigger diesel car with auto gears, satnav and reversing camera. Result.... As we had the same car last year we know where everything is and Penny has her huge centre console, air-conditioned bottomless pit that she loved last time. No melty Penguin chocolate bars then.
Been up for an hour ready to face the day, Onto Brighton, back to Haywards Heath for lunch then onto Ro and Mikes at Fleet.
All proceeding according to plan, bags packed, technology nearly sorted house sitter in situ. all that's left is to drive to the airport an sit in the metal tube for a day........ smiles
I think Ben the dog has worked out that something is up and he's sticking to Penny like glue.
Looking forward to seeing the northern hemisphere folk again even though it's only 6 months.
The main reason for this trip is to see David ordained in Chelmsford Cathedral at the end of June, a promise we made some time ago and it's one we were determined to keep , plus it's a good opportunity to take several thousand more photos to put in the Gallerie Shiraz collection.
See you on the other side, of the world that is.......
