A day of sailing and arrival in to Santander

We went  for breakfast in the café at around 10.30 and then spent the rest of the morning lazing around although Jennifer went for a hand massage at the Spa, Free thank heavens.

Brittany Ferries Cape Finistaire.RO Ferry

At lunchtime we went to the upper deck bar and café and had a salad  which was all we needed and then we purchased some food for later in the evening for when we arrived at the Hotel. As the Spanish  tend to eat very late in Spain from 21.00 hrs onwards and we are not used to that we had decided rather than risk a late dinner we would buy some sandwiches on the ferry and together with a glass of plonk that should go down well.
The Ferry is beginning to show its age, The Cap Finistair was built in the late 1990's bafore being bouth by Brittanny Ferries about eight years . 
The Ferry was running about one hour late due to some technical problem they said, and so we arrived in Santander at around 6.30 pm local time and were off the ferry about 45 minutes later and headed out of town to our country hotel where we arrived at about 19.45 and checked and the place looked deserted.

Poussada da Villanita

The room is a little basic  but fine and so Noel fixed up the TV Streaming stick and then we watched some Netflix before turning in after eating our our light meal.
A very pleasant day indeed

Here wo go again

Well after months of planning the day finally arrived as we are off to Spain, France and perhaps other places yet to be determined.  Primarily we are going to see some friends in Moraira Spain which is between Alicante and Valencia and we have stayed there several times before but under different circumstances.
So rather than hang around the house waiting to leave when we were ready about two hours early we decided to head of to Gunwharf Quay at Portsmouth harbour and go for a brief walk and have some food and then head off to the ferry to check in. The A3 was pretty busy and so we were pleased we had left early and  arrived at The Quays around 13.30. For lunch we went to Five Guys Burger joint, we have used Five Guys in the USA a few times and they knock the spots off Burger king and McDonald's and so we had a nice burger and chips sitting outside in the sun watching the ships go by. At around 14.45 we headed off to the Brittany ferries check in and were surprised to see so many different types of sport cars being loaded from Ferrari's to Maserati to Jags and Ginetta and quite a few Aston’s and sop we presumed it was sport’s club trip. We boarded and went to our cabin and had a cup of tea and then headed off at about 19.15 for dinner, but first having a drink in the bar, where we had to make certain they understood Noels eating issues and they coped well.

After dinner we headed back to the cabin and spent a restful evening reading and Noel listening to music.The Bay of Biscay which is renowned for its poor weather was actually very nice and it was a very smooth crossing indeed.
And so to bed…

Bozell: Media Hatred of Trump ‘Will Cost Them Everything’

The word ‘COULD’ should be banished from the English language

I am getting rather fed up with the overuse of the word COULD. The end of the world COULD  be tomorrow. Pres Trump COULD be impeached tomorrow (this one has been going on for some years now)
There COULD be major port and traffic delays when Brexit happens, and so on etc etc  so why do the press use this all the time. There is a video on You Tube I will try to find which shows how the US press have ganged up on Trump supported by ‘THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, hardly how I would describe the them. 
All the American people were given a free choice to vote and the Loser cannot accept it because somebody who did not fit the bill (in the losers eyes) won, its the same in Batty Britain where there Remainers Lost and every day the paper is filled with COULD trash, like we wont be able to get any Tomatoes or Oranges from Spain and Tulips from Amsterdam, what a load of old Tosh, Can you see the Spanish sitting back and accepting that the millions of oranges they produce for the UK each year will now to be sold elsewhere, but where?? , I think the UK is the Dutch largest customer for flowers and cheese etc and so what are going to do, just let the plants die and kill the cattle that make the cheese, I doubt it, there is always a way.
And as for the Irish Border problem to say that tyranny will return if there is a border well you might as well say this about any country in  Europe. And by the way the new El Presidente of Europe will earn a measly 27500 Euros per month plus expenses, perhaps she could pay for her European Army out of her huge salary, but I doubt it. If she is anything like Mrs May, then we are on to a winner leaving the EU.
Time will tell 

Good bye Mr Hammond and thanks for nothing!!!

If you want to see a jumped up starlet MP then look no further than Mr Hammond who has not the gust to resign in the normal way by letter or discussion with your boss, but attend a TV show and announce it then. This is contemptible and just goes to show he cares about himself more than the average person who put him there via the Weybridge Polls.
I was reading the Daily Mail and even after a few hours release the comments from the readers, not one word in his favour, but all about what a diabolical wanker he his, does he really think he will missed, perhaps he though he should be the Prime Minister and if that were the case half the population would leave the country. All this absolute crud that he spoken about Brexit is sickening and will be proved wrong like his first comments three years ago that we were doomed somehow does not correct today with the FTSE doing well, unemployment at a LOW and Employment on a HIGH with Salaries rising, gosh its a real nightmare.
So Ta Ra little fellow, the guy that arranged for the Weybridge Health Centre to be almost empty of patients when he paid an official visit, apparently, to make it seem that it was not under pressure. Go back the next day at the same time and there were queues waiting to be seen.
So Goodbye…………….

Had to cancel the Salcombe trip

We had planned to visit Noel’s sister and brother in law in Salcombe for the day but there was no way that we could handle that plus the risk of passing on the bug which would not be recommended. This was a shame as we wanted to see them both but as we ill be returning mid August we will try again
Jennifer had started to feel better and by mid afternoon Noel was also seen to be recovering to the extend of watching the Tour de France for a while before taking a further nap but really no interest in watching TV at all. After watching the race we spent a few minutes rechecking the main gas connections which Noel had struggled with in the heavy train the night we arrived and was relieved to see all was fine and no smell of gas anywhere
So the evening was spent sitting quietly with Jennifer reading and Noel watching the sky get darker before going to bed at around 9pm, early for us but rather necessary and hoping that tomorrow we might feel a little normal.

The last thing we needed!!!

Overnight Jennifer was very restless and suffered lots of wind and generally felt unwell although Noel seemed Ok in the morning but this was soo to change. Well it looks like we both caught the same 24 hour bug which provides a lovely amount of of diahrea and vomiting and unfortunately the Mater of the house got it worse and was pretty much incapacited for the who day and part of the night, a most unpleasant experience. This meant we had to cancel the meeting for lunch with Joanne and Tim and kids which we are looking forward to but there was nothing we could do.

The day dragged by slowly with neither of us being hungry and even scared to touch food just in case and apart from lie in bed and complain about the bad luck there was not much we could do except grin and bear it. Lets hope we feel better tomorrow

Off to Somerset for a few days

We were rather tired form yesterday early morning and going up to London etc and so were a bit sloe of the mark this morning and so we decided rather than try and leave at a set time, we would leave when ready which was about 11.15.

It was raining all the way down the M3 and then it stopped for a while and shortly we were hitting the Stonehenge traffic, what possessed the builders to put it right next to the main A 303 I cannot possibly imagine as it has caused traffic jams for so many years with the Government seemingly unable to make a decision whether to build a tunnel under it, move the road or just make the road wider. It has taken years and I think I could swim around the circumference of the world quicker than they could reach a decision on what to do. By around 13.00 the traffic was bad, as expected, and so we took a new route , which after a brief stop for a bacon sandwich, this time a nice one, we ended up going past the caravan site we stayed in at Glastonbury a few weeks and then re-trod our steps to the site in Waterrow near Taunton.

We arrived around 15.30 in the pouring rain and the caravan was already placed nicely on site but we had to hurry to set up the water, electrics and put the stabilisers down before unloading the car of our clothing and food for the next few days. The last time we used the caravan we had a gas leakage and Noel had obtained the necessary spares but to fix it which took about 20 minutes during which times he got drenched but at least it now seems Ok with a further check on Saturday morning before leaving to see the family.

In the evening Noel did his photos from the graduation and then we had gammon steaks with egg and veggies washed down with a glass of plonk before hitting the sack and both of us were quite tired. it had not helped that earlier in the day Noel had ricked his back and doing things was more difficult than usual, Oh well lets hope we all recover tomorrow and the weather be better although the outlook is not promising.

Michaels Graduation Day in The Barbican Hall London

Even though whist working full time over the last three years he has also studied for a Degree in Health Studies at the St Georges College in London with the graduation ceremony taking place in London on 18th July to which we all looked forward to attending.
For all of us it was an early morning, as part of the organisation Michael was provided with two tickets, so one for Jennifer and Becky and the author needed to purchase a ticket which was on a first come first saved basis with ticket office opening at 08.00 IN LONDON. So Noel and Jen were up at 05.45 to get ready to catch a train at 0650 and then got a big shock as we were leaving the house to find that a large branch from our Tree of Heaven had dropped and was blocking half the road, and so a quick sort out was necessary and  what to do.? Well all we could do is pull it to the side of the road and head off to the Station.

We arrived at the Barbican at about 0745 and its a massive place with lots of halls and cinemas and art galleries and we finally located the ticket office and there were lots of people standing around waiting for it to open but just to be sure we jumped to the far left hand ticket sales desk and asked them if were in the right place, yes they said, OK to wait here till you are ready, yes they said and then ten minutes later I had a choice of any one of 300 seats and chose a balcony view aisle. Shortly afterwards we went to the café for a burnt bun with some burnt bacon and a cup of tea, poor quality stuff for a high price. Michael and Becky with Ethan arrived and we settled down and Michael went off to get his robe and tickets and apparently there was chaos with literally its seemed hundreds of students all looking to do the same. They announced that the graduation was about to start and of we went hoping that Michael would be ready in time, which finally he was after about one hours waiting.



The tutors in all their fine robes arrived and filled the stage and then over the next 2.5 hours they made speeches and presentations to various people and then finally they started presenting the graduates one by one. Most of the names called out were clearly not English and some of the African names caused some problems and we waited and waited and finally Michael's name was read out he walked across the stage, shook hands with the Principal, and off the stage all in about 20 seconds. There was guy sitting next to me when the ceremony first started ready with his camera to take a photo of a family member but after a while he got bored and went to sleep and missed the name being called out.
We left the Barbican and headed for Waterloo Station and had a meal in one of the restaurants and then we both headed home, us to Weybridge and Michael and Becky to Aldershot. All of us were rather tired after an early start and we were in bed that night before 22.00 and in the meantime had almost finished loading the car for our travels down to Somerset tomorrow morning for a few days in the caravan and to see Joanne, Tim and the grandchildren..
A GREAT day and were of course very proud of what our son Michael has achieved and helped no end by Becky.

Going home after three weeks

Well a brief breakfast and we were ready to leave at around 09.30 but talked to the warden about our van and then said our good bys to the site owners and headed of to Weybridge. The traffic was heavy in the usual places places ( Stonehenge and the M3/25 Junction) but we made it home in just over three hours, would have been less but for the traffic.
Oh well will be back in Somerset in mid July for a few days.

Time to pack up

Good heavens, there was bit of sun this morning and this is good as we must start the reorganization of all out bits and pieces as we are leaving the Caravan in Waterrow Caravan Site near Taunton.
Usually we take the van home and empty and clean it and then take it back to the storage yard near St Peters Hospital but this time as it will stay this sorting needs to be done today.
So we spent some hours getting it ready but at least next time it will be a lot easier and we only need a small suitcase if clothes and whatever food we need.. Anyway this took some hours and by 15.00 we were done and ready for a shower and a clean up  and then ready to leave for a BBQ with Joanne Tim and kids.
The sun was really shining quite hard and we arrived  at the house and had some lovely steak and salad whilst overlooking the fields with cows grazing away and the kids enjoyed the BBQ
We left Taunton around 8pm and headed back to the site and ready for an early night.

The sky must be running out of rain soon we hope.

Another miserable morning, when will it end??? surely the sky must be empty by now. Anyway we spent the morning relaxing a bit after a bacon sandwich for breakfast which went down well, cooked by the master chef non the the less. Noel caught up with blogging and Jennifer did a house sort as we are beginning to think about packing the van for storage.
We had hoped that the rain would stop sufficiently for us to visit Dulverton a village in Exmooor which we passed through some years ago and hoped for a better look. En-route we passed a Caravan Club site called Lakeside, I am sure the facilities are great but they park much closer together there than at out site and its looks a bit like a car park and so glad we are where we are. However there is a bif price difference, it cost double here to the CC which is probably why the CC site was very busy compared to ours. The route to Dulverton is quite attractive and we passed a nice pub by the river which we will visit next time we come.
Parking is a bit of a nightmare at Dulverton but we finally found a partly empty car park, must be horrendous in the main summer holidays, and then we walked for a short while and ended up in the Copper Kettle café for a nice scones and jam with tea. The main street is packed with cars and does not lend itself to attractive photos but I took a couple but will probably rely on stock photos for the Blog.

We arrived back at the site and took a look around and then had a nice gammon steak with potatoes and veggies for tea,most enjoyable. In the evening we watched Women's International Football with England playing Japan, mixed emotions here, but England won 2.0 although Japan gave them a very tough second half. And so to bed.

And still it rains

There is an old scout song which starts, it rained on Monday and it rained on Tuesday and so on and on and well this has happened to us for pretty much the last couple of weeks which is not great but then life goes on. So having resolved the loss of gas problem we hoper we need to replace a bottle of gas and also we wanted to check out again another caravan site which we thought might be good for us and the family to meet up.

So after some internal caravan sorting we went to meet Joanne and Christopher in Taunton for lunch and then visited the site in Henlade which was quite empty but we guess in summer it would be much busier.but there was a ton of room to spare. Perhaps the rain is putting people of visiting we don't know but after having a tour round it looked fine but we need to check out another one nearer our site in Waterrow.  On the the way back we purchased a can of spray which used on pipes will indicate gas loss and also purchased another 10 kilos of gas. Not sure why this is but 5 kilos costs £ 30.00 and 10 kilos £ 40.00 so I bought another 10K which should last us for many years to come we hope.

On the way back to the site we visited the farm where they have as small site with 10 spaces only and its a field with new Loos and great views but could be a little soggy if there was a lot of rain. Our initial thoughts were a bit negative as there was nothing the for the kids to do however when re considering we realised there is as large park and play area plus a heated open air swimming pool less than one mile away and one mile further is out caravan site. Lets hope we can arrange something in August to have a family group which would be rather nice.
Having had a proper lunch we had purchased earlier a pack of smoked salmon and some freshly baked rolls which we enjoyed whilst watching an evening of TV a new American Medical series called New Amsterdam. We don't usual watch this type of soap opera but we made the exception here.