We’ve been quite busy since my three part blog about our 15 week summer trip. Hard to remember which order things happened in! Thank goodness for camera rolls! But, here goes…….
First job once we were home was getting the pool clean again! And ordering a delivery of pellets for our winter heating. Once that was done, Nigel concentrated on the battery replacement options for the motorhome. There were quite a few, at differing costs and levels of difficulty but in the end we decided to take it to a workshop to have lithium batteries and an inverter fitted. This means that we can now frugally use mains powered appliances without the need for electric hook up. To make travelling more convenient and cooking cleaner and quicker we have bought a small coffee machine, a small air fryer and a single induction hob. We were keen to get away and try out our new toys but first I had a short trip to the UK to visit my sister for her 79th birthday.
I flew to Luton and stayed with my friends Jean and Peter in Barton Le Clay for two nights, travelled up to Huntingdon to see Janet and stayed with her for two nights, then back to Jean’s for the last night before flying home from Luton. Whilst at Jean’s she and her partner Peter took me to Wrest Park, an English Heritage property near their home. Ayesha the marmalute came too. Jean is awaiting knee replacement surgery and as mine are also dodgy she hired us mobility scooters so we could get further around the grounds more comfortably. We were warned not to race each other!! Spoilsports!
As soon as I returned home we collected the motorhome and spent a few days tweaking after which we headed north for the Ebro Delta to do some birdwatching and walking. We met our friends Jill and Graham for a night on the way. We enjoyed our time away as always, once we got to the area we just pottered about rarely driving more than a few kilometres each day. But it wasn’t all plain sailing as one day we got a warning light regarding oil change being due, then essential, so we had to find somewhere to do that!
Our bird count was quite high, especially herons. We saw more herons than ever before on any trip! Highlight for me was an Osprey flying overhead carrying a fish.
After Amposta we headed south east to see the Roman ruins of a 2000 year old 28k long Aqueduct, Peña Cortada. It was quite a climb up but I took my trusty walking pole and it was fine. Amazing that this could be done with no modern technology or machinery but just hammers and chisels (and slaves). We only walked a part of it and back the same way.
On our return home it was time to get ready for our long awaited and anticipated trip to the UK to celebrate our Golden Wedding Anniversary with our boys, their partners and our grandchildren. More pool cleaning and maintenance ensued as it needed to be presentable for our house sitters. We picked them up from Murcia the day before our flight and again we struck lucky. They immediately bonded with the dogs, were very laid back and comfortable with our house and their “duties” so we were able to fly off to Manchester without worries.
Unfortunately this stress free start soon evaporated when on the first night after picking up the hire car, driving to Conwy and checking into our hotel, Nigel discovered he had left his laptop in the tray at security in Murcia Airport. The air was blue and heads were held in hands but then I found an email address for lost property on my phone. Within ten minutes of writing to them to explain and not holding out much hope we got an answer in perfect English saying yes, they had it and we could pick it up on our return! Phew, phew, phew!
On the Saturday, our actual anniversary date, after breakfast we had a walk around Conwy which, having driven past countless times in the past we had never actually stopped at, then made our way to Porthmadog, stocked up with shopping and headed to our Airbnb which was at Morfa Bychan.
Our very comfortable accommodation was a short walk from Black Rock Sands where we have dog walked and kite flown many, many times on family holidays at Dolfriog, a friend’s farm just outside Beddgelert. We picked Aoife up on Sunday evening from the station in Porthmadog in the pouring rain, the forecast for the following week being much the same. Richard, meanwhile was partaking in a Mountain Marathon weekend in Scotland and driving down to us on the Monday which was why they arrived separately. Our younger son, Andrew his partner Alana and the children were joining us later in the week.
However that was the last of the rain, we had dry days after the Sunday, no more rain and although it wasn’t particularly bright and we didn’t get to see many mountain tops, it was mild and dry. Richard and Aoife were working some of the time but we were still able to get out and about with them. We had a trip down memory lane on his birthday with a walk along the Glaslyn river in Beddgelert, a nostalgic look at the cottage my mum used to live in with my aunty when they retired and of course the obligatory ice cream, finished off with a pub meal in the evening. The following evening we had a meet up with our farmer friend, another Richard, who we have not seen for many years.
We had our honeymoon here in 1974.
Tan y Marian.
When the littluns arrived their first job was to help us complete a jigsaw that Aoife and I had started the night before. Percy, aged almost 7 was an absolute whizz at finding the pieces and placing them. After lunch we had a narrow gauge steam railway trip from Porthmadog to Tan y Bwlch, a walk down to one of our favourite lakes, Llyn Mair where we all did some stone skimming until it was time to walk back up to the station for our return trip.
The children (and adults) enjoyed their play on the beach the next day before we set off for an afternoon at Chester Zoo. We were now seven as R and A had returned to London in the morning. After a while we lost grandad…or more to the point, grandad lost us, to do his own thing! Finally it was time to say our goodbyes and head off to Cheshire Oaks Travelodge where we were going to have some retail therapy before heading to the airport next day. Unbeknownst to us, Andrew and Alana followed us to Cheshire Oaks and treated us to a surprise meal in Frankie and Benny’s so more goodbyes ensued after that!
We had of course been following the shocking news of the devastation around Valencia during our week away. We have two sets of friends living in the greater Valencia province and I contacted them both but thankfully neither was impacted by the Dana. However on the morning of our return later that day, the house sitters reported a heavy storm and phone alerts for potential flooding. All was good though, the rain stopped mid afternoon, our flight was on time and they were there to collect us. First stop was lost property for the laptop! Dogs were ecstatic to see us and we got the usual frantic and enthusiastic welcome.
Next day we took Tina and Hughie to their next sit, just 45 minutes away. They seemed to love their time at our house and said they would come back and sit again should we need them to and if the dates fit.
On Tuesday we had a hastily arranged meet up and tapas lunch with Julie and Rob in Cartagena, they had been out at their apartment on the La Manga Strip.
We’ve just been sorting out and pottering around for the rest of the week since we got back, lots of laundry and a huge pile of ironing awaits. I don’t mind doing it now its a lot cooler. Next week it’s covid jabs and then hopefully off in the motorhome again for a couple of weeks, not far this time I hope! Even though we had flu jabs before we left, Nigel now appears to have man flu and I’ve just started coughing and sneezing too! At least we don’t have to get up for work!!
Hasta Luego