Some Images from the Ceremony

THE DAYS JUST FLY PAST.....and then you get ill

Jan 12th. - Jan 31st. 2016

We'll try again as I lost an hours ramblings yesterday through pressing the wrong tit on the bluetooth keyboard ( just to show that I am a techie). .  as I am still confined to the sickbay trying to shake off an irritating and debillitating chest infection, more of which later. I would have posted sooner but the last 3 weeks have been hectic socially and we've only spent 4 nights in on our own
WEEK 1 flew past, getting unpacked and set up, catching up on all the news around from old acquaintances and meeting some new ones. The situation in Morocco has meant that the french aren't going in their usual numbers and we have a new lot of friends  here now. Our new neighbours are Josef and Carmen, been going to Agadir for the last 10 years but not again. They speak no english so my french improves daily. They all play boules so the boules courts are now overcrowded and the competition is fierce but great fun internationally. The first quiz of the season saw us come a creditable third with 39 behind 2 dubious scores of 39.5 after the contested awarding of an extremely dodgy half point. ....and as we should not have changed 2 answers, morally we should have had 41 anyway. Harry&Joan have teamed up with Paul&Caroline (both expartners of ours but good) and beat Don&Sandra Phil&Anne in the tiebreak....we'd have still come third in the tiebreak if the half point hadn't been given.
The GF got her owm back by winning the whist(females) but Harry was as usually unbearable by winning the men's prize and thus claiming the double.
New friends also included Derek& Laurel, Canadians or Australians or (possibly Kiwis) having dual passports, houses on 2 continents and embarking on a world tour. We met them over dinner and they were leaving next day but stayed a fortnight after enjoying the pleasures Conil has to offer. They were great company and Laurel keeps an interesting blog but it's private and needs a password and they'll kill me if I divulge it.......so If the 2 of you are  reading this, happy & safe travels and when you pass through the UK again, send us an email and we'll meet up. Highlight of the week was the Harry&Joan Production of the Token Ceremony with a cast of thousands (17), a dragon, Horseman, Geishas and no-expense-spared firework display (€34). No words can do justice so you'll have to watch the Videos on YouTube. Search for Japanese charm Ceremony 2016 (1-4) but Joan and Pia did an incrediblejob on costumes. I've suggested a public execution scene for next year with Harry in the leading role. The week wrapped up with local San Sebastian festival, as colourful and noisy as ever.
WEEK2 started with a bang with the Rosaleda Oyster Fest when Laurent&Jaqueline took delivery of dozens of oysters she ordered for those interested from Arcachon (one of my favourite places in France) and sent by courier. It was a remarkable occasion for me as I learnt to shuck oysters in industrial numbers.....all the oysters that I've ever eaten and I never learnt the secret as it seemed fraught with the possibility of losing digits or punching holes through hands. But no, after 5 mins of instruction , Jaqueline and Jean-Yves had me stabbing,wiggling,twisting and finally cutting & draining like a huitrier in a  Paris bistro. Top fun. There were 20 dozen to do so we had a few glasses of wine before the hordes arrived. There were meats and salads for those not included and I enjoyed a wonderful plate of 24 very large oysters for €24........and a lot more wine from the banks of the Loire. Quiz was a disaster this week and we didn't score but I did win the men's whist just to annoy Harry.
WEEK 3 started with me feeling unwell with a cough which got prgressively worse and there was a lot of it about. I tried to battle through, perhaps mistakenly. Couldn't miss the quiz, and we creamed it coming first with 47/50......and I won the whist again, completing the double and taking the earnings up to €65. If there was a prize for Line Dancing (and Harry & I could dance, we would no doubt be competing for that). The coughing got worse ,despite buying medicaments from the Pharmacy so I ended up at the new local Centro Medico San Sebastian, having been told by the Insurance Co. to tell them to send the bill direct to them. After they stopped laughing, they swiped the credit card for €120 and sent me back to the Pharmacy to spend another €27 on what appears to the contents of a small dispensary. But I did get a cd which contains the Xray and results from machines that go beep...I wonder if the NHS has a program that that can open and read said cd. If it doesn't clear up in 3 days I can go back at no extra charge so nothing to lose. There's been a lot more so I'll drop thosr into future posts.

THE SKY IS BLUE...THE SEA IS GREEN

12 . Jan 2016
The journey down was uneventful but filthy......the weather just as nasty as that we had left. The Sarthe was high but not overflowing so the aire at La Suze was available although again busy. Fortunately, local knowledge being invaluable, though all the hookups were taken ( much to the apparent delight of a brit who leaned out of his van to tell me the bleeding obvious) I know that there are some standby electric sockets on the wall of the public convenience which can be reached with a long lead. So it rained all night and all the next day to Bordeaux together with a strong headwind coming off the Atlantic.
Mon 4th at Bordeaux. If the weather had been better we would have lingered as the cycle tracks are so brilliant, and at least it was warm.
Tues 5th.To Burgos, where the rain had stopped but not the wind. Temp down to 0° but no hint of snow. Walked along river to city, decided to stay a day abd do the cathedral, but morning dawned cold and overcast so the GF said move. One day we will stop at Burgos for more than one night.
Wed 6th. Rained all the way to Caceres, but temp 10° as opposed to last year when it was -5° and forced us into the campsite rather than the aire.. strolled into town for a drink ...v busy being epiphany or Kings as they call it.
Note....Diesel is 75p a litre in Spain, cheapest for about 8 years and 30p cheaper than the UK. 
Thurs 7th. Another overcast and rainy day until Jerez where the skies cleared. Found a new LPG station 100yds off the motorway in Seville which meant we could fill the tanks without having to drive into Jerez and waste time. Arrived Conil at 3.30, having stopped for essential supplies ...a box of 4 Parta Negra down from €10 last year to €9.40 wich is another result...though not for the liver.
The weather is warm and sunny. Rained Monday . Apparently nov/Dec were superb with one day of rain so it's bound to change now.
All the usual suspects are either already here or arrived soon after us,Paul  & Marianne being the last to arrive on Sunday, having had their Portsmouth Santander ferry cancelled on Tuesday ( when we were in bordeaux and congratulating ourselves on not being in the Bay of Biscay.). This meant going to Caen and losing 3 days plus 600 miles of unexpected driving with his bad shoulder.
The Japanese Good Luck Charm has been scheduled for Saturday ...with or without me....and is now a full blown Harry & Joan Production. ...take cover.

OFF TO THE SUN.......hopefully but not yet

3.1.2016

Packing seemed hard this year as the GF insisted on the kitchen sink. We're away for 3 months so she has planned for every eventuality plus some more. The van felt sluggish, suggesting a high payload. Weather forecast indicated rain all the way and so far has been correct.
Left home 15.30. Channel tunnel surprisingly inefficient and although we were offered an ealier train than our booking we only left 5 mins before the original time as they seemed to be doubling up. And when we arrived at calais the Ron Haslam Racing School transit van in front of us refused to start. Jean-Pierre who drove the tow truck was on his dinner break and it took 1/2 hour to find him and get Ron Haslam shifted whilst 50 odd vehicles waited.Heigh ho.
Having searched the forums for migrant reports around Calais and found nothing serious since October, the plan was to head for the aire at the marina and see how the land lay...number of vans overnighting and signs of migrants. Maybe because it was pouring with rain nobody was about but only 2 vans so we headed over to the usual site opposite the ferry where we found 30-40 vans and not too many vacant slots so we slotted in nicely. Having eaten out at lunchtime we did the crossword and sudoku in the Telegraph and went to bed. The predicted storm materialised and strong winds all night and heavy rain.
Sunday morning dawned later than usual due to CET, but the wind had abated....temporarily as it transpired.  Off to la Suze SUR Sarthe and had one the nastiest days driving ever. The wind was head on and rain relentless. The wind was so strong that it looked doubtful if we could get to the SuperU  at La  Suze for cheap refuelling so had to put some diesel  in on the motorway. ..
Diesel is €1.14 -1.25  on the motorway or €0.98 at the supermarket. With the € around 75p these days, that is a lot cheaper than the UK as usual.
Monday 4/1..to Bordeaux. Started sunny but horrendous rain by the time we arrived though temp still mild..  new wonder wifi hotspot fails to work.

CHRISTMAS ROUND-UP FOR THOSE NOT PAYING ATTENTION

December 17th. and an unexpected cost.

Those paying attention will have noticed that 1) the postings stopped suddenly in October, mid trip. 2)the blog disappeared completely in november/december and 3) the site has had a makeover. Those not paying attention i.e everybody will no doubt say 1)didn't notice, 2)hadn't noticed and 3)I thought something was different, and so I shall bring you all up to speed with the various reasons,trials and tribulations, as this is supposed to be my record of what's happening.
The cessation of activities in October eas down to England's abysmal performance at the World Cup. Yes, I'm sorry to bring it up when the scars were beginning to heal and the memories had been successfully buried but I was so disappointed (as we could have been in the south of France enjoying sun and wine) that i lost the will to live re blogging.
So I left us in St.Ives where we spent a cultural few days visiting art galleries like the Tate and then we headed to Bude for another few days and then a funny little site in Torrington which was on the Tarka Trail cycle track which we rode up and down very scenically. Excellent track. Then to Woolacombe and the strangely named Damage Barton, overlokking the sea but a fair hike down to the town. Tiring of the narrow roads (did I mention the damged wing mirror) we headed to a Cl at Bitton, between Bristol and Bath and on the Bristol-Bath cycle track so we visited both cities before having a problem with the fridge which seems temperamental and has decided to work only if it perfectly level in all directions. As this seemed impossible in the field we were in I gave up and we went home on the 3rd October. A result of the fridge problem was a visit to the NEC 2 weeks later to the Motorhome Show to buy a set of Milenco Quatro levelling ramps which offer a greater range of adjustment.....and a very expensive wifi booster aerial which may have been an indulgence as I subsequently discovered a mobile hot spot at Pc World which can be used all over europe for £9.99 a month giving 3gb data. and it worked out of the box.
Also had the pleasure of a lunchtime beer with Malc & Christine and a sight of the new "caravan" they've bought...
Early November saw a trip to Broadway to meet up with Jim & Kath who we met on the Russian cruise and were over for a business trip and a few days R&R in the Cotwsolds.....we took the van over for 4 nights and had an excellent time being driven round the strange fantasy world that has developed in that neck of the woods. It's so theme-park that I'm surprised they don't charge to enter it. But we had a very nice time as they are great company.
November 23-27 th. Teversal
An excellent week like last year, Ken&Jackie, Paul&Marianne,Malc&Chris and Derek&Margaret and a very jolly time was had by all. As last year, there was the day trip to Chatsworth House for the Xmas Fair which is quite spectacular ....certainly in prices.....but which I doubt we will do again. Find somewhere else for next year. But at least the fridge is behaving and the wing mirror repairable rather than replaceable as I feared, for a mere £16.
December was spent more or less at home. The van was given a clean bill of health at the annual habitation check but then the airbag warning light came on permanently. It has done this before but previously extinguished itself soon after. As there was a small issue with what I suspected was a faulty earth connection causing some warning lights to faintly glow, I booked the van in for diagnostics. The light cluster is apparently well known for an earth leakage on Euro 5 chassis  and has to be changed. good news was that they had ordered one in anticipation....bad news was that out of warranty that's £900.
Further bad news was that this would not solve the airbag warning which meeds a new ECU for another £300.......and a Happy Xmas to you to.
So that brings things up to date. The blog disappeared because I bought a new computer and decided to tidy up my email accounts. Having deleted the 2 I deemed redundant, all my google bookmarks and contacts disappeared, along with the blog, .....utterly and completely. Black hole. Fortunately Google give you 5 days to recover deleted accounts before sending them to the great shredder in the sky so I got the important one back and copied all the bookmarks and contacts to another file and reloaded them into the one google account I retain. And then deleted the old account again and the blog disappeared again as it is near impossible to change the ownership of a blog. So I had to recover the old account, again, and then set about transferring ownership to new gooogle account. The Blooger web site is very helpful..up to a point. It took several forums to discover that in order to follow the detailed and complex instructions you had to use 2 computers, one signed in to each account, as it couldn't be done on one ( as i had discovered for several frustrating hours)
So now the blog is back, and I thought it needed brightening up so this is the new look. I know its America but we did go to Monument Valley in a motorhome and I do like this picture. the GF wanted another taken in Croatia of a crowd of us but Julian who helped nobly thought this looked better.
COMMENTS WILL BE READ.
So that wraps up 2015. Off to Spain 2ndJan, a trip Norway and Sweden via Nordkapp for 7 weeks to see the midnight sun with Derek & Margaret May_July
and a complete family party in a gite in france in august plus the Rugby7s in paris and Croatia in September all to look forward to in 2016.
HAPPY XMAS AND A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR READERS.

FIRST BUS GIVE PUBLIC TRANSPORT A BAD NAME

21st September 2015

We've done a lot of buses, from Nagano to New York via Moscow,Split,Luxembourg,Barcelona, Lyon,Sorento,Berlin,Prague,Los Angeles and the length and breadth of England to name just a few off the top of my head and without doubt the worst bus company we have ever encountered has to be First Bus in Newquay. The timetables are a nonsense, the smartphone app is incorrect, the buses are filthy and the staff, who don't give a toss, cancel buses and close the terminus office to suit themselves.  They have digtal information displays at bus stops which display incorrect information  because the timetable has changed but nobody has bothered to update the system with the new timetables. The drivers can't be bothered to alter the route numbers on their bus, preferring to yell through the door "it's not a 59, it's an 84". A 3 page letter is on its way. We spent a lot of time hanging around for buses that failed to materialise and got fitter walking back from wherever we could get a bus to but wasn't where we actually wanted to be.
Added to that the weather wasn't brilliant and I had a massive tooth failure as something appears to have sheared off and the emergency NHS dentist at newquay hospital was not exactly helpful....giving me the choice of extracting the stump or going back home and having a crown implanted. As he was as reassuring as Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man, I am hoping that his assurance that it won't get any worse in the next couple of weeks is correct and that the nice Claire in Martlesham Heath will be able to sort out the seemingly massive crater I now have where there used to be a large molar. At least he didn't charge me anything which would not have been the case had I managed to get an emergency appointment with any dentist in Newquay who seem to reserve emergency appointments exclusively for existing customers. Fortunately,  one of them apologetically suggested the NHS helpline who did at least get me an appointment at said hospital but with the aforementioned result.......
But that's enough of me.
Rugby World Cup has started well and we HD a wonderful feast of rugby over the weekend
England stuttered with Fiji,  Wales triumphed but at injury cost, All Blacks showed vulnerability and Japan gave us the best game to watch since the 2003 final....who else would have spurned a penalty to draw the game in injury time in favour of opting for another scrum to secure the winning try. I'd love to know how many of the top 8 teams would have taken the draw.
So now we are in St . Ives on a lovely site above the town (walkable if steep) with lovely sea views..
if only the weather was better......but at least we managed to avoid meeting the fellow with his 7 wives and all those cats so here's a picture of the harbour.

COULD HAVE BEEN IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE OR CROATIA

17TH SEPTEMBER 2015

NEWQUAY

Been away 2 weeks having left home on 1st. Sept. took a management decision to stay in the UK for Sept/Oct in order to watch the Rugby World Cup now that satellite reception can be iffy down in the south of France but we had hoped that the weather might be a bit better than it has been so far.
1st-4th September in Southampton for the England/Aus ODI at the Rose Bowl. We parked the van at a weird campsite for 4 nights and had 2 nights at the Dolphin courtesy of Dave,Briony,Geoff & Caroline who entertained us royally for a joint 70th birthday present. Much fun was had by all, only marred by England losing,some good meals and lots of wine.
5th-11th September to Dartmouth. Stayed at Little Cotton campsite courtesy of a CC&C Temp.holiday site. Lovely site with good views and a nice downhill walk to town and regular bus back. Never stopped here before, only passed through crossing the river on ferry about 30 years ago, and greatly surprised to find one of the prettiest towns ever seen. Buzzing with trippers and we roamed around and about on the buses and ferries to our hearts content, and even had a nice walk along the cliffs. Great pubs and we had some lovely meals and snacks......and probably the best fish and chips ever {even if the meal did come to £75}. The weather was quite pleasant for the week so a very nice stop.
12th-17th September to Newquay and weather turned exceptionally nasty with a couple of days of gales. Much tent devastation around us. Again we are on a CC&C Temp holiday site at Hendra Holiday park...{bascically a THS means we are paying £10 a night instead of £21but still get to use all the facilities as the club has pre booked about 100 pitches and will pay for them whatever. This one is very well attended. Site is very large with nice view over the moors but a bit far from town which is not as nice as we remembered it, being full of youth etc. Still, the rugby starts on friday so we shall stock up and hunker down