Off to Oz to meet our first Grandchild, Norah Rose, via Brunei which isn’t the most scenic international airport en-route but it was the most direct with no stop-over. We landed with Australia “ablaze” with out of control bush fires but luckily in Hervey Bay we where unaffected. Once my training was completed and with a few more days of practice my pushchair skills came on leaps and bounds out in the real world of skateboards, cycles, cars and pedestrian mobile phone users oblivious to any other human presence. So this is a pictorial assembly of our visit and I make no apologies for loads of baby pictures in no apparent order.
Proud parentsFirst boat rideBrisbane tropical rain storm Kevin……and Polly, who needs an alarm clock !Pier used to load coal back in the dayFlatulent pelicans on fish watchcareful where you walk !filleting tables provided for the big catchWith the sun directly overhead the hat is essentiallearning to pose Apparently she’s going to be tall ! you don’t say !I know how to bore them into submission Look close, it’s big…”lest we forget”Granny having a minute Fraser Island……Dingo scavengingElkhorn and……Staghorn Biggest sand island in the world.A close shave…Even the Pelican wouldn’t eat this old “tug”Look close to see the Frogmouth pair…Internet pic to see how beautifully camouflaged they areShe’s getting bored with my stories alreadyFlathead for teaHe went back, it’s only as thick as a slice of breadSharing a picnic with the honeyeaters……Parrots……and Myna birdsour resident possum thingy…Kevin and Kate our resident early morning wake up call, couldn’t understand what all the laughter was about !Time for coffee
Over the border and into Salamanca, a place I will return to, full of cultural architecture, bars, cafes and a young peoples university feel right through the night into the small hours. On the way out to the border with France at San Sebastian we stopped off for three nights in very rural yet full of character Torquemada, behind the church on a very pleasant 4 large bay aire complete with everything but lekky so we felt very welcome. In San Sebastián, after an uneventful (apart from the automatic payment m/c that had every European campervanner scratching their heads !) walk about town we felt it had nothing for us, so next morning we left for France and a beautiful lake side aire at Gastes for a few days. Mortagne-sur-Gironde right on the water front with good cycling and walking was the next stop-off, before we headed again along the coast to La Rochelle, another place to revisit as it’s more than just a very busy harbour for sailing boats and the reinforced German U-boat pens built during WW2. Once again we headed Northward to an island campsite, Ile d Or, Amboise, with its imposing castle guarding the crossing of “La Loire” back in the day. A prosperous town clinging to the banks of the river and beautiful cycle rides both ways. Just South of Amiens in a little horsey village called Conty is also a must place to stopover a while with it’s laid back feel and crystal clear streams and lakes set among beautiful horse riding countryside. Amiens with its links to the First World War is also a very interesting town due to the strategic bombing it took during the wars. Last stop before Calais and home was Montreuil, a walled town HQ to General Hauge during the Great War. So Calais and Dover brings another adventure to a close and another chance through the summer to meet up with friends and family and time to plan the next trip.
Salamanca
Plaza Mayor…..
…..in the small hours
Torquemada church and aire
A shrine of shell cases in honour of those killed in Spain’s civil war
Very rural yet pretty
Lakeside at Gastes
Mortagne-sur-Gironde
A walk into the reed beds
A house with a view
La Rochelle
”Das Boot” U-boat pens
Well reinforced from allied bombs
L’ile d’Or
Picturesque at night
The old town of Tours
Amiens
middle row, to the left if you are good, to the right if not ! Look close.
Once again into the Portuguese Algarve over the “Rio Guadiana”, meandering slowly West catching all the usual haunts along the way from Villa Real de Santo António to Silves, not our first visit but our first time at Felesia where we could get into a campsite, so we stayed for over three weeks. We did cross paths again with Mick and Deb Clarke so it was good to catch up over drinks and nibbles.
We left Silves due to the heatwave, late May, heading North for cooler weather but we would end up back in Blighty well before it started to cool some months later. The journey North through the centre of Portugal was a pretty scorched earth trip due to the previous years fires, we could only imagine the horrors of it all. Vila Velha de Ródão and the Crossing of the Tagus river while watching Griffin vultures coming in to roost on the high sided cliffs then catch the morning thermals in order to scour the vast Portuguese interior was a sight to see but after only one peaceful night we had to press on to Vilar Formoso and the border into Spain in the North. It was here we discovered the museum, a series of rail carriages dedicated to the plight of Jewish families hoping to get into neutral Portugal from Nazi Germany, sadly they where kept on board the train carriages for a number of days before being refused entry, it was the good people of Vila Formoso that risked their lives to deliver food and water in the dead of night to those incarcerated in the wagons and the museum is a tribute to their bravery and humanity.
Settled in at “Taray-next-the-Med” to spend time with Pete and Nina as she starts the long healing process of a broken leg and Pete the long days of having to do everything !
Plenty of cycling opportunities here and the weather is great, cycle North over the rugged hills and nudist beaches to Bolnuevo and Puerto de Mazarin harbour for civilisation or South over the national park “Cabo Cope y Puntas de Calnegre” a moonscape of a place to Águilas dodging wild Tortuga on the way (that’s Tortoise to you and I).
I did return to Torrevieja for a weekend of rugby and caught up with the Parsons at their place for a great get together of food, beer and great company, oh yes and the dentist.
Puntas de Calnegre
Loads of cycling
A spur thighed tortuga, almost ran him over
Chris flys in for a spot of lunch with the Clarke’s and Hudsons
Pre-Brexit EU tours don’t come any more complex than not knowing if I would ever be able to return to the UK again, cast adrift in a land of Croissants, Sauerkraut, Tapa and Pastel de Nata’s, not to mention the beers the wines and the Brandy, what would I do !
Leaving Chris behind with her mum I set off mid January with her to meet me by flying in to Mercia early March. So my first stop after Dover is Vendeuvre-sur-Barse, near Troyes, then onto a E.Leclerc stopover just north of Orange, still cold but next stop is Gruissan right on the harbour front and a place i know well now, so a couple of days on the French med before heading into Spain it is. First stop in Spain is a mixed farm, Mas Bes, close to Girona airport, a great stop, free aire, free electric and a farm shop to purchase fresh milk etc, school trips to the museum and the farm animals kept the place busy. Next stop another favourite of mine due to the abundant bird life overwintering on the Delta De Ebre, Casa de Fusta, a restaurant with dedicated motorhome stopover facilities, loads of cycling and birdwatching (the Bluethroat pic is off the internet), bliss.
Vendeuvre
Vilobi d’Onyar farm aire
Resident girls
Frosty mornings away from the coast
Museum of the old ways
New born lamb in January
Amposta on the delta of the Ebre
Delta Sunset
Sant Carles de la Rapita
Purpose built bat house among the bird hides and reed beds
The delta paddy fields
Blue throat, a first for me
With February approaching (six nations rugby actually) I need to move on to a bit of civilisation (sports bars with big tv’s) so Torrevieja it is, La Zenia shopping mall has a big car park, toilets and loads of bars to watch rugby in. After the rugby weekend I left to visit the Hudson’s, Pete and Nina, parked at Taray, Puntas de Calnegre just south of Cartagena right on the sea front. But I will return, again for the continuation of the six nations but also to visit a dentist as a molar of mine decided to give up the ghost so a filling it is then !
A week in Whitby-by-the-sea with loads of walking and weather, wet walk into Sandsend a blustery jaunt into Robin Hoods bay and a train ride up the Esk valley railway to Glaisdale walking back to Grosmont
Walking the Cleveland Way coastal path
As the winter sun goes down early we are still walking with the smell of something old & peculiar wafting in from the bay !
A real fire, real ales and a pint of Old Peculiar goes down a treat.
Blowing a Hooley in Sandsend
The view from the old railway line looking down to the river Esk.
Identify plaque
The cinder track, Sustrans route from Whitby to Scarborough.
Narrow streets of Robin Hood Bay.
The beautiful packhorse bridges of the Esk valley
Even on a cold murky November hike.
A well worn path, part of Wainwright’s coast to coast walk.
The wildlife of Yorkshire, well a dead mole string, she refused to eat her pack up here once she realised.
A striped Bass caught locally.
What do you need to do to be remembered as a Martyr ?
I was always told it’s all in the presentation.
Llamas never fail to put a smile on my face 😊
We had to turn back as we had no old money !
She’s scared of dark places, bless.
I think the toll road would be a better, cheaper alternative.
Loco sheds, its where the volunteers work !
The fog never lifted all day but it was still a good day out and a great week in all.
Staying on a little site in Old Brampton I thought I’d go for a walk out over the Derbyshire hills to Bakewell, via Holymoorside, Beeley moor through Beeley onto Rowsley then up the valley into Bakewell for a beer and a bus trip back.
I’ve always been fascinated by the uniqueness and individuality of stiles (stick with me) to the belief that you could pinpoint where you are in the British countryside by the type of stile you are passing through !
So these are just a few that caught my attention on a quiet jaunt to a pub in the Derbyshire Peak District.
Oh, can you spot the pic of a picture ? I’m sure you’ll have no “i-deer” !
I thought it a good idea way back in the summer to pack a tent and all things lightweight and go do a cycle ride, so the 185 mile Hebridean Way covering the islands of Vatersay, Barra, Eriskay, South and North Uist, Harris and finally Lewis became a 300 plus mile cycle ride.
Its a day of trains to get there and another to get back but well worth the effort, South to North with the prevailing winds (gales) is also a must along with a good weather window as it must be a hard place to live all year round.
Early morning ferry to Castlebay, Barra via Coll and Tiree
Once in the open the swell caused a lot of those little white bags to be used !
So in the words of Chairman Mao Tse-tung “a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step” I’ll be off then !
War casualties….
….amongst the plane wreckage
Loads of beautiful isolation if that’s what you crave
Waiting for the ferry to Eriskay and South Uist
The 17:30 to Eriskay
First night on South Uist, Kilbride campsite
Typical campers cabin…
…with all mod-cons…
…5 star eh !!
Loads of coastal scenery
Bays
Lochs and Mochair
With great roads to match the big skies
Need to be careful where I stop, don’t want a ticket !
The ride into Tarbert, rain forecast so it’s a hotel room for me
You meet some interesting people on the bike, Benji the spaniel brought along his two companions which was a wise move as one is a Doctor the other a theatre nurse, very clever dog !
This ones Gin not Whisky
Isle of Lewis, the last island and as you can see from the snow poles it has a bit of altitude and snow in the winter months
Sea Loch views, beautifully peaceful and tranquil
Loch Erisort inn, you’ve guessed it, on Loch Erisort, my bed for the night, on the lawn at the back, never slept a wink due to gale force winds threatening to blow me into the Loch itself ! I think the fish n chips plus a few beers earlier worked as a great ballast !
A wet, windy Sunday ride up the West coast of Lewis so a great B&B/Bunkhouse in South Galson was a welcoming thought
Next morning is a different day, sunny and calm, after scaring Raven and Golden Eagle from the beach front I found why they hung around
With the tail stretching out it must have been over 4 m long
Every cemetery has a view
Two of many
Look into the far distance and you’ll see the Butt of Lewis, the end of the Hebridean Way
One last stop in Port Of Ness
There she blows (glows) the Butt lighthouse strangely built of brick
Warning mariners…
…of serious danger but beautiful views
That’s me with my Hebridean goaty
Finished ! Well not quite
Cycle to Stornaway for the ferry onto Ullapool after a Guinness or two to celebrate. That’s me in the middle, they don’t call them “coffin tents” for nothing
The train crossing the Firth of Forth looking down on Inchgarvie island once used as a quarantine port for incoming ships
For our last week we moved closer to the Hook of Holland and the ferry departure date, Rockanje, about 20 mile south of the Hook. Another site with Deer, goats, rabbits, ponies the works so it was very quiet until the peacock struck a chord !
Once again loads to see and do right on the North Sea coastline so would return if the ferry over was ever late over.
Right where next………..
Greeted to this Dutch goal scorer near the site, I asked the owner if that was for when Holland scored, he said we haven’t qualified ! Doh!! I blagged it saying I was a rugby man myself !
Best cycle route planner yet, each post has a number and the direction to the next number, you choose, long or short, simples.
Easy….
…you can still take a wrong road if you don’t concentrate !
Herons…….
….and Greylag geese
The Dutch making hay !!
Ingenious mechanical bridges and canals
Saw loads of these bags hanging from flag poles, found out that when you finish school for the last time you chuck your bag on a flag pole ?
Lovely places to visit and spend time near
Big seafarers in their day the Dutch
You can see why….
….with all these waterways
Blowing a gale on the North Sea coast line !
I struggled to see the resemblance with Torbay myself ?
With loads of washing to be done before we returned home a Yacht club is the place to be, Culemborg itself is full of character with loads of places to see and loads to do.
The classic Dutch windmill
Loads of churches and spires, good landmarks in this flat land
Typical Dutch shape for their houses
Everywhere surrounded by river, canals and dykes of every description
All very well kept.
The market square with cyclists and pedestrians along with cars mixing easily, begs the question why can’t we !!
More personalised glass to be drunk from !
Cycles either side and motorists up the center, no center road markings, if someone comes the other way just be sensible about it, easy.
elliotts on tour 