A trip to Normandy 26-29 May 2019

We normally visit a certain caravan site in Normandy for a couple of months each year but what with other commitments and also wishing to be closer at hand during possible sale of the house we have decided to stay in Uk for  our caravan holiday this year. However, we have made good friends with the owner, or now ex owner of the caravan site, and wanted to see her anyway but this time without bringing the caravan. On the site of the Chateau is al several Gites including one four bedroom house which she will eventually live in and so she said we could stay there for three nights.



So an early Sunday morning saw us getting up at around 05.30 and then leaving for Portsmouth to catch the 0815 ‘Mont Saint Michel’ Brittany Ferries vessel to Caen where we arrived around 15.00 and so by 16.45 we approached the Chateau and met up  with our friend Ingrid and also the ex manager of the4 site and now also a close friend and so we spent the next few hours drinking tea and then moving on to wine canapes and lit the fire to keep us all warm. The house is made of old stone which retains the cold which is great when its very hot but not when its a bit cold. At around 7.30 pm they left us to return to the Chateau as Ingrid was cooking dinner for the gardener as usual  and no doubt Gilles would also enjoy. However we had agreed that tomorrow we would all meet up for lunch including two other Dutch couples who have always been on site when we are there.
So on Monday morning we went shopping in Courmeilles to obtain food and wine for the lunchtime session. It was a lovely afternoon as we all met at about 12.30 and we sat around a table in the garden of the house and enjoying a mixture of food cobbled together by Jennifer and Ingrid and it was most enjoyable. The launch finished around 17.00 hrs and we returned to the house to have a quiet evening and Gilles departed for his home in Dinan.
On Tuesday, Ingrid was going to be busy with hosting a lunch for some other friends and and so Jennifer headed off on the country route to Trouville to a very nice fish restaurant we have used before. The food was really excellent and afterwards a quick walk around the town which was quite empty as the summer season has not started yet. On the way back to the house we did a tour of the caravan site which was more like a building site with lots of holes being dug and lots of earth where previous holes had been but in for water and electricity and there were a  number of glamping tents and small huts spread around the site. The swimming pool both under cover and outside were not yet ready and those people who had booked their on a site where there is tons of room were all pushed to one small area and we were so glad we have decided to to bring the caravan this year. We tried to see out Dutch friends but nobody was about so perhaps another time.
On Wednesday 29th May late morning we left the house and drove back tom Ouistram Port, Caen and caught the ferry back to Uk where we arrived ay 19.15 and then rushed home to see the second half of the Chelsea vs Arsenal match taking place in Baku, of all places.Thank heavens Chelsea won as Arsenal was a shambles.
So that was a quick visit and now we have to get ready for the next holiday as we leave on Saturday morning with the caravan to Somerset for three weeks taking in two separate caravan sites, one in Glastonbury and the other near Taunton in a place called Wivelscombe.

Biggles Club visit to Looe

The Biggles Club visit to Looe, Cornwall 13-15^th May 2019

Full report

The weather for this trip was truly fantastic with wall to wall sunshine, apart from when it got dark that is.

The trip did not get off to a great start with Noel mishearing the train announcement and getting off at the wrong station leaving Tom G at Liskeard looking for me and Rog. To make matters worse Rog was not on the train and then Tom G’s car broke down in Looe car park. Wow, fun days ahead it seems

We changed the Hotel for this visit due to ever rising cost of rooms in Looe and so we stayed in small ten room B& B which was a lot cheaper and quite good. The Hotel had an ‘Honor Bar’, little did they realise they had forwarders staying and so Tom was in heaven.

A PRO-AM golf day had been organised at the St Austell golf club which is sited on the edge of the Cornish Coast and with one mistake you could lose your balls. The PRO’S, pardon the expression, were Tom L and Roger M, whilst the AM’s were Tom G and the undersigned and we were to play a ‘Texas Scramble’ or something like that and the only people who knew the rules were the PRO’S and so this put the AM’s at a major disadvantage.

The teams were Tom L and Tom G, hereinafter referred to as Tomtom and Roger and Noel known as the famous green jackets. As both Tom G and Noel had not played golf for at least 50 or 60 years we thought there might be a whitewash but we completly wrong.  The PRO’s kicked off with a significant shot from Tom L which ricocheted off the side of the wooden clubhouse and ended up thirty yards behind us. Wow the AM’s thought, we may be in with a chance here. Rog then hit the ball so hard it went down the fairway and straight in to a Seagull who was minding his own business and knocked it out, so is this what they call a ‘Birdie’ ?? the AM’s asked..

Throughout the nine holes that we played which took nearly four hours the Tomtom team cheated so much by having far less shots than the the Green Jackets even though the Tomtoms should have been disqualified on more’d than one occasion for foul play.

To try and catch up Noel actually got a ‘hole in one’ until the opposition rudely pointed out that putting the ball in the lake does not count as a hole in one, so more underhand work here was detected. By mid afternoon we realised there would be no chance to complete the 18 holes as with the current rate it would be nearer midnight by the time we finished and the pubs closed. A grateful late lunch in the clubhouse put us on our feet again and we headed back to Looe for a short rest and then an evening with a few beers and an excellent dinner supported by a reasonable amount of wine.

Both Rog and Tom G left the Hotel early on Wednesday morning for various reasons missing the breakfast but Tom L and I think it was due to them avoiding their share of the bar bill.

Well it was a great couple of days and as mentioned at the start we were blessed with the best weather you could imagine and we all agreed over dinner that we will do this again next year but this time we shall have a winner’s ‘cup’ for next year’s tournament. So, lots of fun had by all.

See you all at the summer lunch

Regards to one and all.