Back in Europe

Tuesday September 16, 2014

We are back in mainland Europe. To be precise we are in walking distance of Bruges in Belgium. We have been here many times before, but it's a place that is always a pleasure to visit and spend some time in. Although it is mid September, clearly other people think the same, as there are many tourists visiting. It's expensive eating and drinking here, but I think that may reflect what to expect as we move on to Germany in a few days. We paid £35 for a bowl of mussels, bread and a plate of chips, which we shared, plus 2 beers.

Reflecting on the past few months we are really happy with the great summer we have enjoyed. We are so lucky to have been able to spend so much time with Kate, Paul and Amelia. It is quite amazing that since we came back to the UK in May, and leaving again in September, we have seen Amelia walking, and now running. And every day she seems to pick up new words. She can even say multi syllable words like "caravan". I'm not joking – she really can say "GraGra and GaGa's caravan"! 

Amelia actually said "Granddad" one day, which was disappointing that she was learning so fast, but it was back to GraGra again soon. She knows most of the words for colours, but at the moment nearly everything is blue! But we have no doubt she will soon know that Peppa Pig is pink. We are learning too. Peppa's brother is George; her teacher is Mrs. Antelope; and her friends are Danny Dog, Emily Elephant (Mike's favourite), and Susie Cat – we think that's right – please correct if not. . . .

And some of the time with Kate, Paul and Amelia, and meeting up with other family, has nicely coincided with enjoying places and events in the UK: Cowes Week; visits to Mottisfont House near Romsey 





and a couple of National Trust sites in Devon; 

the Tall Ships race start in Falmouth; a trip on the ferry from Padstow to Rock; a walk on the cliffs near Bedruthan Steps, while looking at a very rough and stormy sea over the August Bank Holiday.




On the subject of some of these places, we were asked before retirement what we planned to do, and Mike's practiced answer was "to visit old and new places in Europe and similarly in the UK". And that is what we have done in the UK this summer – perhaps not as adventurous as we had thought – but there was no need, as there was so much to do anyway. Gail lived in Cornwall for 50 years, and Mike as an emmet for only 40! But neither of us had ever been to Bedruthan Steps, or crossed the River Camel to Rock.

It suddenly occurred to us the other day that we might be too late to achieve our goal of seeing old and new places in the UK. If there is a "Yes" vote in Scotland, then we have another country to visit, and the UK becomes smaller. It makes you think – in the last few days we have driven into France, crossed the border into Belgium, drifted into Holland, back into Belgium, and tomorrow will probably drive into Holland again, and out into Germany without once showing our passports. Wonder if it will be as easy if Scotland is independent. . .
And by the way – why do we get so much immigration hassle when we fly, but not when we drive, or travel by Eurostar? Answers on a postcard please!

 

Back in UK . . .

For some reason – could be Word, or Google Blogger, or me – this post kept overwriting others. So sorry if you have read it before. . .

 
For three months now, we have been back in a world where WiFi access is easy and free– that is not in France and Spain – so I have had no real excuse to not catch up on stuff without worrying about the cost!
I can't really blame the lack of WiFi for neglecting the blog. It was the sun's fault! Very lazy and relaxing life... Ironically I have now left my phone in the car and it's a bit early to go out and get it, so I'll type this as a draft and send later!
We had the occasional WiFi in Spanish bars and paid for internet boosters but 100MB about covered a FaceTime call to Kate.

They had cheap WiFi on our main site in Spain for just 30 euros a month, but it was poor quality, so I did it once.

We didn't travel around Spain as much as we expected as we found a great site half way between Valencia and Alicante right on a beach with clean sand as far as you could see in both directions.

But of course we took trips to various towns and cities, including a few overnight hotel stops.

The site was very uncrowded even at Easter and May Day holiday when there were a lot of Spanish around. And only 14 euros a day! We planned to stay for 7 days and ended up being there for 72 days!

The car was a pain – and still was in the UK until late July. We had to get recovered (fortunately without the caravan) and then the car needed a new driveshaft; the front number plate half fell off (Halfords!) and I got pulled over by gendarmes. Fortunately no "on the spot fine". Then we started to get an intermittent engine performance issue - took a chance and managed to get back to the UK. Then the aircon packed in a week before leaving Spain. Got it regassed but still not fixed. That week and 2 days of driving back were a little uncomfortable and noisy with windows open, but that was not a problem once closer to the UK, although the improving UK weather eventually tested us again.
Finally the computer display faded and went out. It's not a big display, so again was not a big deal but it would have been nicer to have it.
To cut a long and boring story short, all jobs on the car were eventually fixed over a few months – including a further major engine job. Don't ask how much! Let's just say we will be in the caravan a while longer. . .

We made it back to a site near Southampton, next door to a caravan service centre where they serviced the caravan for the first time. As Gail had said, our list of "warranty items" was not long, and might be put down to wear and tear, and generally the caravan's first year has been reliable, certainly where you want it to be - behind the car, and on a site.

Once we got back to the UK it was a busy time, sorting out a storage unit in Southampton to transfer stuff from the Derby storage unit; emptying the caravan into the unit so they could service it; and of course catching up with Kate, Paul, and Amelia. I am now "GraGra", Gail was "GrauGrau" which has already evolved to "GaGa", which we both love, but we have been corrected by Kate that we must repeat back to Amelia "Grandad" and "Granny". Quite right!

Since May we have been moving around to various caravan sites around Southampton and the New Forest, for a few weeks at a time. Just yesterday we returned from a 2 week visit to the Isle of Wight which is deserving of its own blog post one day! Once again all very relaxing and lazy!

We are now back in Southampton for a few more days before heading down to Cornwall for a few weeks, via a stop on Dartmoor. The really good weather has gone, but it's not so bad even now, and we are really looking forward to our first visit to Falmouth in 2 years.

Bucket List

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Well! Since we arrived in Spain over 6 weeks ago, this is the first afternoon of solid cloud we have seen, and very windy with it. So instead of being lazy and concentrating on doing nothing in the sun, an opportunity to start a blog post.

I loved the film “The Bucket List” with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, 

and fully get the idea of listing things and challenges to do, or to see or to experience, and then ticking them off the list, bluntly before you “Kick the Bucket”! 

Don’t worry – I will be around for a while yet! 

Personally, and in my opinion, setting goals in life and career can only bring frustration and disappointment when not achieved or only partly achieved. And unfortunately with the good things come the bad things – some unexpected, but many inevitable in the course of life.

But at the same time I am very lucky that life has resulted in me being able to say that! 

If I now write a retrospective list of things that I have done, or seen or experienced, since just the start of the 21^st Century, in my personal world and sometimes as a result of my job, often shared with Gail, Kate and Paul, and family and friends, my so-called “Bucket List” is actually quite long, and having ticked them off very satisfying. Things that money can’t buy such as seeing our daughter, Kate, graduating from University and then successfully developing a successful career; meeting and then marrying a good man in Paul, and together making a happy home together into which our granddaughter Amelia arrived in 2012, is a series of "items" which would have to be at the top of the list. 

I would also have to follow with a list of people who I met through work, many of whom became good friends, and provided a long string of happy and memorable events, including weddings, births, christenings etc.

Then we have had great holidays - in USA (including Hawaii), Australia, Thailand, Vietnam, Ireland, Barbados, France, Italy, Spain, not forgetting many good breaks in the UK; work trips - many more than once, to South Korea, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, Sweden, Slovenia, Finland, Norway, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria. From such holidays and visits, highlights of these could be additions to the Bucket List – seeing the Barrier Reef, flying over a volcano in Hawaii, looking towards North Korea over the border, visiting the Grand Canyon, seeing the Northern Lights . . .

And what about. . .? That’s the point of this post. I think if I had written a Bucket List, many of the above and many other things would not have been there. And then just last week we experienced another unexpected event here in Spain, to add to the retrospective Bucket List. 

But that’s another blog post to come – “Fallas 2014”.

Falles – March 18, 2014, Valencia

If I had a Bucket List, the Valencia Falles (Fallas in Spanish) would not have been on it! But only because before we actually arrived in Spain we had never heard of it! Having experienced it, the Falles are definitely on my retrospective Bucket List. We knew that as with other countries, in the spring, Spain have festivals and carnivals, and we took a look on the internet to see if anything was going on locally. We found out that Oliva which is a town in the Valencia region a few kilometres from where we were staying in March 2014, celebrate Falles. During a visit to Denia, another nearby town, we came across a huge sculpture in a side street which was clearly going to be the centre piece of an important local event.

Early the next day, I was telling some Dutch neighbours about this, and they told me that a crowd of Dutch and Germans had recently been to Valencia on a coach trip, and if we wanted to experience the Falles we really should go to Valencia. The book they loaned us confirmed that this was clearly a big event. Falles refers to both the celebration and the monuments created during the traditional celebration commemoration of Saint Joseph.

As we had already thought about an overnight stay in a Valencian hotel to see the sights, we booked a hotel for the following Monday and Tuesday nights which were the last nights of Falles 2014 in Valencia. The Sat Nav took us as far as the barricades blocking off the city centre where our hotel was! We tried navigating another route, but after 30 minutes and a lot of stress in heavy Spanish city traffic, as we only appeared to be 1 kilometre from the hotel by car, and even less if we were to walk, we drove into the nearest multi-storey underground parking, and squeezed into one of the last remaining, and the narrowest space. It must have been narrow because someone managed to put a nice scrape on the wheel arch while we were there! Anyway, we decided to leave the case in the car and get our bearings on the surface so to speak. Google Maps gave us a route which looked reasonably direct, and only 10 minutes' walk, so after a coffee we picked up the overnight case from the car and set off.

Following the direct route, we were just a few hundred metres from our hotel when our route was completely blocked approaching a large square by thousands of people, all close together, clearly waiting for something to happen. We decided to walk back 50 metres then run parallel to the recommended route, and finally got to our hotel. The welcome was good, and the room very good. The receptionist had given us a timetable of events, and it was clear from this, that all the people who had "blocked" our route were waiting for the Mascletà, whatever that might be. At 2 pm, while still getting ready to leave the room, we heard the Mascletà with some very loud firework explosions. On entering the street the air was filled with smoke, and people leaving the area after the Mascletà. We were in the street the following day to witness this daily event, so more on this later. . .

We started to wander, and found a bar in a side street to enjoy the sun and atmosphere from one of the outside tables. What we did not know until after we had been was that the two days we had picked were the only days when the festivity includes a flower offering to Our Lady of the Forsaken, which has taken place since 1945. Two full afternoons are dedicated to the parades composed of all the Fallas Commissions, headed by the Fallas Queens and their Courts of Honour followed by standard bearers and marching bands in a ceremony in which traditional costumes and flower bouquets are the major attractions.
We gradually realised from the barriers on the main street, the build-up of people, and from the Fallas schedule that the daily procession would pass in the main road near our bar. So we crossed the road to a vantage point, and waited for the start of the procession at 4. 




Of course we had no idea that the start of the procession was some 30 minutes away – but never mind, when it arrived it was worth waiting for & we watched the Falleras, 














Falleros and quite often their babies and children pass in their elaborate traditional colourful costumes.
       

The ladies (Falleras) each carried a posy of white or red flowers, the purpose of which we only found out later.

There were even groups of falleras pushing buggies as if they might belong to a mum's group – we will never know! 









Probably the most interesting realisation was that each section of the procession was from a different district (or barrio as we later discovered) and people watching recognised and clapped people they knew.

Each "Barrio" had its own band playing traditional music. It was quite something.

After a couple of hours of this, as fascinating as it was, like a lot of things, interest was waning. . . Gail was keen to see the end of the procession, but with hindsight persuading her to leave was a good idea – it went on until midnight – another 6 hours! So we returned to the hotel to tidy up for dinner, and a wander of the area around the Ayuntamiento (the main square). The area was lively, with the usual street sellers selling balloons and the latest plastic light up stuff from China.

I had left the schedule in the hotel but had the street map, so headed towards the area where the night's fireworks would take place. We knew we were in the right area by the crowds of people, and confirmed when the local police moved everyone from a seating area to the road, but we were still in a good position. Just as an aside isn't it curious how you hear people – everywhere - complaining they have people in front of them, when the fireworks are in the sky?. . . It was way past our bed-time at 1 in the morning, and on our feet for many hours, when the fireworks finally started – and they were worth waiting for. The Spanish economy may be in the shit, but that's not going to stop them throwing a great party! At the same time, there are clearly a lot of Spanish and foreign tourists brought to Valencia by the organisation and spectacular events.

The following morning, we took an early lunch at a bar next to the hotel,

and then headed to where the previous day's procession had ended up, and the procession due later that day would also head for – Valencia Cathedral. In the square beside this cathedral was a massive figure of the Virgen de los Desamparados (Our Lady of the Forsaken), with the flowers that had been brought to the square decorating the figure. 

It was not complete, and we assumed the final day of processions would make this complete.

We did not even attempt to see this happening, as it was clear this would be a busy area, but we saw on the local TV channel later in the week that this was the case, and the falleras were very emotional as they delivered their flowers.

It was getting near the time for the daily Mascletà at the Ayuntamiento (the main city square). 

As we got closer it was clear we could get nowhere near as all the side streets leading to the area were jammed packed with people, as they had been the previous day approaching our hotel. So we waited patiently and at 2 it started. I can only describe it as a firecracker display in broad daylight! Incredibly noisy bangs and explosions, and lots of smoke even though we could not see the square. It went on for 10 minutes, and at the end there was massive clapping and cheering at street level and from all of the office and building windows around us. Our ears were ringing with the effect of the bangs.
There are much better videos than mine on YouTube but here it is anyway:

Clip edited to 30 Seconds

Full 100 second clip

Later in the day we found our way to the square and could see that the firecrackers had been set off in a massive cage in the centre of the square.
(Click here to see cage but this is not my photo!)

The rest of the second day we just spent wandering, and enjoying the atmosphere.

As we walked we had glimpses of the huge figurines made of papier-mâché similar to those we had first seen in Denia the previous week.

With a city the size of Valencia it seemed that every corner you turned you saw such a figurine or group of figurines. 

These were often comic in style and often portray caricatures of local politicians, and celebrities like footballers and TV personalities. There are different categories in this with a competition going on, the winners being spared from being burnt on the night of 19 March, St Joseph's Day. 

 


 


There was a massive statue in the Ayuntamento which was difficult to imagine was papier-mâché.This was one of the statues that ended up being burnt. 

We didn't stay to see this part of the celebrations, but we saw it on local TV the following day. Flames were higher than the buildings around the square, and people were crying with emotion. Apparently the whole night sky lights up with flame as all the months of hard work goes up in flames. . .
Statues on Fire - Original available at: http://www.travelsages.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/DSC_3051.jpg

In conclusion, and looking back some months now, it was a really good few days. 

Although this is a celebration that has been going on for many years, it is something we had never heard of before. We are already wondering how we can plan to be there again in 2015.

What a day!

January 24, 2014

It was always going to be the most challenging day of our journey through France. I had a rough plan of doing no more than 150/200 miles a day, using toll roads if necessary, averaging 50 miles per hour – 3 / 4 hours driving a day.

On the first two days of driving in France this had turned out to be more like 5 / 6 hours a day.

So with the prospect on Friday of heavy rain all day, with the possibility of rain turning to heavy snow on Friday afternoon, on Thursday night our plan to drive 240 miles to Ax-Les-Thermes on the way to Andorra, was scaled back to 210 miles, with a site near a town called Rieux-de-Pelleport, 75 miles South of Toulouse, and avoiding going too far into the Pyrenees. So much for the plan!

With the alarm at 7:30 the usual stuff in getting the caravan ready to go was done in rain, but we got going about 9:30. We were soon on the motorway which we would stay on most of the day. But the car needed to climb from 400 feet to 1500/2000 feet and back again several times. This was slow going, and very heavy on diesel. The drive should have been the most scenic of our time in France so far, crossing the Rivers Dordogne, Lot, and L’Aveyron but it never stopped raining – it was a question of whether heavy or very heavy rain –and at the top of climbs we were in low cloud. 

Perhaps we will take in the view on the way back. . .

Finally at 2:30 we arrived at the caravan site we were aiming for in Rieux-de-Pelleport. Only to find the place deserted, with a gate blocking the entrance. Phoning the number on the gate returned a nice recorded message advising the number is out of service. The problem with doing this sort of thing in January is that there are a very limited number of sites open, and our only option was to revert to Plan A – Ax-Les-Thermes. The temperature was 8 degrees C and the rain had eased, so surely driving another 35 miles to Ax-Les-Thermes would be OK? 

And really it was not so bad. Another 500 feet climb, the rain started to come down really heavy, and the temperature dropped 4 degrees, but after passing the site the first time we did a U-turn at a roundabout in the town, and finally we arrived at a friendly site reception. The caravan was a tight fit on the muddy and water logged pitch, and I tried to get it close to a tap to use the hose-pipe direct into the caravan – only to find all taps had been shut off from mains to prevent freezing!

With everything level, secure, and connected, it was time to come inside to remove my soaked waterproofs. But not ye. The fridge and microwave lights were on – but no water pump or lights on the 12 volt system! Worryingly it was starting to get dark outside. So, checked all the fuses, and trips – still no solution. 

So it was back to IT skills. Switch everything off; unplug caravan from the mains; plug back in; switch stuff back on. Brilliant –works every time! Crank up the heating; have a coffee; open the bubbly – I forgot to say it was our anniversary – 38 years! And we had a nice meal after the bubbly with a bottle of red. 

We slept well. No more towing until Monday.

For Amelia

January 17, 2014

We are finally in France.

Just a few days ago, on Sunday, we had a lovely walk along the River Itchen, followed by a Sunday Roast late in the afternoon, with Kate, Paul and Amelia.                                                                         

I guess that will be the last Sunday Roast until we reach the Costa del Sol . . .                                                                                      

And then we had to say our goodbyes to Kate, Paul and Amelia until March. That was really difficult, having seen them at least every other day, often for entire afternoons, particularly while Kate was on holiday, and Amelia on holiday from nursery.

We have been so lucky having had so much time with them all since retirement in September. We have probably spent more time with Kate since she was last on holiday with us many years ago.

It has been a really enjoyable and memorable time.                                                                                                                                                                                        

 Many meals out, including a Christmas lunch with Kate and Paul on a steam train on the Watercress line; a trip to Marwell zoo to see tigers, giraffes, zebras, baby snow leopards and a baby armadillo; a visit to Father Christmas to scare Amelia off Father Christmas; Christmas festivities and New Year celebrations with Kate, Paul and Amelia; Amelia’s first birthday and Amelia’s first birthday party - they were different - just like the Queen’s official and unofficial birthdays.

It was good that Adrian and Mary came down for both events, only last weekend with their motorhome. 

We had a lively evening with them at the Sandy Balls caravan site pub near Fordingbridge in Wiltshire.

And of course we have seen changes in Amelia in what is a short time in her little life so far.                

It was only September that Amelia was trying to roll herself from her back to front; now crawling at speed is no challenge, and climbing stairs has to be prevented! Walking is just a week or two away.

Of course, my karaoke skills have finally been put to good use in the early development of our granddaughter. I know the words of Postman Pat all the way through – all verses – Amelia is impressed! In fact she sings along, in her own way.

But for now, a change from that. After a stressful time in getting an MOT on the car, we set off for the Channel Tunnel at 9 p.m. on Monday evening, twelve hours later than planned. A few hours trying to sleep at a couple of service stations, and then arriving at Folkestone at 5 a.m. for our Shuttle at 09:50 – but they rescheduled us for 08:20 – so we then had time for a couple of hours sleep. It was bitterly cold, but by the time the alarm went off, the caravan was warm enough to wish we were still going on the 09:50 Shuttle!

It took us about 4 hours to drive to Beauvais. The plan was to start off on toll Autoroutes to make the first driving day, but not yet having read the instructions on the new GPS, we ended up driving on D roads, and through numerous French villages. But that worked out much better than expected. It was fairly easy and relaxing driving, with very little traffic, and quickly got us in a good frame of mind, forgetting how tired we were.

We left Beauvais for Sully-Sur-Loire on Wednesday where we are planning to stay 7 nights, explore some chateaux, and taste some wine. We have a wonderful view of the River Loire from our window, being parked right beside it – but above flood level!

Retirement is looking good so far.

Winter was never going to be the best time to start living in a caravan. . .

When we first thought about travelling to, and taking our time in places in Europe and the UK, we had expected our house in Derby to take time to sell, and we would start the adventure in the Spring of 2014. But luck shone on us and the house sold in weeks not months – effectively giving us little choice but be "homeless" sooner than expected. Little did we know that we would experience so many windy nights in just one month.
It's three in the morning, and outside the wind is blowing and driving in the rain. Nothing like 2 weeks ago when there were gusts of 50/60 miles per hour, or the beginning of last week when they reached 80. You can tell the difference lying in bed in a caravan! But whatever the wind speed it is usually a good time to have a cup of tea. But we took the awning down before the 80 mph storm, cancelling a planned lunch with Gail's cousin to get thoroughly soaked instead. With yesterday such a lovely day, we finally took the awning out of the car where we had stuffed it 6 days ago, and dried everything off. It will probably stay folded up now until we get to warmer places.
Nonetheless the adventure has started. We have experienced bad weather, and I am contemplating writing to the caravan manufacturer to share our wind tunnel experiences. I also remember the first weekend in March we collected the caravan, and were cut off for a few days in Leicestershire with heavy snow. We have the right caravan – warm & dry – too warm according to Gail. This site is well drained, so we haven't had that side of the bad weather to contend with fortunately. This site is in a nice location just a mile from the Solent, and the River Hamble, and of course close enough for us to pop in to see Amelia, Kate & Paul, at least every other day, sometimes several days in a row. On balance, to enjoy that, it is so worth putting up with a bit of noisy wind and rain. To share Amelia's first Christmas and birthday by being so near has made it the best Christmas in a long time. Maybe that is the subject of another blog post. . .
We are moving on to the New Forest at the end of the week – mainly because Adrian & Mary are coming down for a weekend in their motor home the weekend after. But also it's a cheaper site! From there we have a Eurotunnel crossing booked on January 14, and our first site in France booked in Beauvais, north of Paris. After a few days there, further south towards Orleans, but nothing definite or booked yet. There has been quite a lot to plan in addition to the bookings. Recovery insurance; travel insurance; book the car in for service; should I get the MOT done before we go . . . etc. Just found out yesterday that in Spain we will need warning signs on the back of the caravan as we are over 12 metres, so they are on order. Already knew we have to get 2 breathalyser kits for France, but with French wine so convenient will two be enough?
Maybe that wind is dying down a little – so back to bed. No work today!