Created by KeefH Web Designs, December 3rd, 2022, 07.13 AM A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog Genealogy Trip No 2 & Not the Motorhome trip No 21: August-September, 1969 INTRODUCTION This is a very retrospective blog, during the winter months of November and December 2022 I decided to translate most of the handwritten diaries we hold in our Family Tree data to supplement our Genealogy info featured here under the Family tab, good website design, backing up audiobooks, videos and slideshow with text. Enjoy! MENU Diary Audiobook Videos with audiobook overlay showing relevant and irrelevant areas of Australia, cars, and images from places visited, created via Clipchamp by KeefH Web Designs Trailer DIARY Jones family holiday to Queensland, Sydney to Rockhampton, written by Wilfrid Masters Jones, this is an account of the Jones family’s winter holiday, taken at the end of August 1969, in Australia. There were five of us, myself, my wife Jean, and twin daughters Anne & Margaret (aged 15) and my son Brian (aged 13). We headed north from Sydney, crossed the border into Queensland and travelled up the road known as Highway 1 with the intention of reaching Proserpine. Australia has often been described as a country of strange contrasts and we found this, even on our short tour of 2,000 miles. We passed from floods to drought conditions in a distance of 200 miles and changed from a bitter cold wind coming off the sea at Port Macquarie to the heat of a tropical sun at Rockhampton. We passed through Buderim, a land flowing with milk and honey to a drought-stricken area of dead trees, scorched grass and dried up creeks, where the cattle were being moved south in an effort to save them from starvation. We found a contrast in accommodation too. One night we slept in a beautiful glass fibre caravan and on another occasion in a single decker bus, about 30 years old, which had been converted by a very amateur carpenter. Knowing that we would find bad roads I had new rear springs fitted to the Rover and carried quite a few spares. We had two tents on the roof and carried complete cooking equipment. I removed the windscreen washer bottle from the side of the engine and made a wire basket to carry a kettle, three saucepans, a meths stove and five enamel plates, which all fitted between the exhaust manifold and the wing. It looked odd, but it made quite a talking point whenever I lifted the bonnet to take on oil at a garage. I also removed the arm rest from the front seat to make space for a first aid kit and my wife’s handbag. The car alone weighted 30 cwt (hundredweight) and when fully loaded it must have been well in the region of two tons. I think some of our Aussie friends thought that they would never see us again, because we had warnings about staying with the car if we broke down and not trying to get help. I know there are some regions in the north where the police refuse permission to proceed any further unless one has a Land Rover. There must be thousands of these go anywhere vehicles in Australia, giving good service in rough country. Well, we started our safari at 6 am on a Saturday morning. Rain was falling, but we hoped that as we proceeded north up the Pacific Highway the weather would improve and so it did, after two days of torrential rain which at times slowed us down to 15 m.p.h. Some roads were flooded but fortunately not enough to hold us up. At O’Sullivan’s Gap we passed through our first rain forest, and it was so heavily wooded that we had to put our headlights on. We slept in motels or caravans, as camping was out of the question and spent our first night at Port Macquarie. We found a motel on top of the cliffs and took a family suite. I thought any port in a storm. The rain was coming off the sea and just running from the car to our quarters got us wet through. We left Port Macquarie the next morning after the proprietor had given us a large sheet of plastic to put over all our belongings on the roof rack. Our canvas sheet was no match for tropical downpours. On the second day we came to a place called the banana bowl, acres of banana plantations growing on steep slopes. This area is supposed to have the most equable climate in Australia. Average winter temperature 67°F and in the summer 80°F. Each banana plant produces a bunch of about 300 fruits every 18 months. The plant is then cut down and a new one grows out from the base. A good bunch can weigh from 70-100 pounds. Growers use coloured plastic bags to help ripen the fruit and this makes a strange sight when seen from a distance. The bags are a light blue colour, and it appears to every traveler passing by that they are growing balloons on the trees. On approaching Grafton, we had a drive through floods six inches deep and progressed very slowly in bottom gear. I called at the NRMA office to find out if there were floods ahead, we wanted to turn back after 400 miles. Whilst waiting for them to phone I bought a canvas tarpaulin and some rope at a government surplus store and we lashed everything down on the roof, guessing that wind would be our next hazard. We were too early in the season to see the famous Jacaranda avenues in bloom, so we bought a picture postcard instead. We crossed the Clarence River which was in flood and looked like the Mississippi. At Tweed Heads we had just erected our 2 tents when a hurricane arrived, blowing off the sea bringing most of the sea with it. We found under these conditions the tents were not waterproof and so it was necessary to pack up in double quick time and bundle everything in the car. Jean tried to find accommodation for us in the town, but everybody had gone to earth, and so we had to sleep in the car, all 5 of us. The third day brought us to a stretch of beach known as the Gold Coast, and Surfer’s Paradise, a brash holiday resort very much akin to the French Riviera with concrete hotels, neon signs and various devices for extracting the visitor’s money – we passed on. The following day we came to Glasshouse Mountains but could only see the base of two of them, because of the low rain clouds. We had no idea how spectacular they were until we saw them on the return journey. On the fifth day the weather improved, and we found ourselves in sugarcane and had never seen pineapples growing before. They are cultivated on slopes facing the sun where there is good drainage. A detour then brought us to Buderim, a place we had read about in England and wanted to see because of its amazing fertility. The soil is unbelievably red, and produces strawberries, pineapples, and ginger of very fine quality. We spent an hour touring round a ginger factory, the only one in the southern hemisphere we were told. By the way Buderim is the aboriginal word for honeysuckle. We thought the place was rather aptly named. On our return to England, we found Merry bud Ginger could be bought in most of the better-quality shops. On the sixth day we passed through more sugarcane plantations and noticed they were usually on flood plains alongside wide rivers. The cane factories run their own railways called trams and the lines cross the roads with no gates or barriers of any sort. We came to a town called Gympie, where 170 dollars’ worth of gold had been mined about 100 years ago. The few remaining homes were built up on stilts to get a flow of air underneath during the hot weather, at least that’s what we were told, but I think it probably has something to do with snakes. It was about here that we were climbing a steep hill and came up behind a heavy lorry struggling up in bottom gear. The road was narrow, and I was wondering if there might be an opportunity to pass when I suddenly noticed the letters TNT painted on the back. Now in England it is the law that any vehicle carrying explosives must have the fact painted on the lorry and TNT to me meant trinitrotoluene. If that lorry was loaded, I thought, there was enough explosives to flatten the whole of Paramatta and if it was likely to go up, I preferred to be in a different part of Australia when it happened. So, I pulled off the road and let the mobile bomb get ahead for a few miles. It was sometime afterwards that I discovered what TNT meant in Aussieland and we all had a jolly good laugh. We were now a thousand miles north of Sydney and the temperature was rising. The next town on Highway 1 was Childers, in the midst of sugarcane country and we stopped for petrol and a picnic lunch. I got talking to a cane harvest contractor and was complaining about the heavy rain we came through earlier that week. He said, “pity you haven’t bought some with you, the last time it rained here was on Christmas Day”. That was nine months ago, so we had passed from floods to drought country within 200 miles. As someone said, it was so dry you had to be primed before you could spit! My children were very amused by our visit to Childers. It was exactly like one of those Texas ranch towns one sees in westerns, with swinging doors to the pubs, verandas over the shops and a main street which was just about shooting distance wide. One could imagine 2 stockmen coming out of opposite pubs and whipping out their six-shooters. The men wore wide brimmed hats and at midday the place was quiet as Tombstone in the film High Noon. The weather seemed to be set fair, so we decided to camp alongside a dried-up creek, on a space set aside for travellers called a rest area. This was provided with a fireplace, kindling wood and toilets, by the department of main roads. There was a gas station near the only sign of habitation we had seen for many miles. We pulled in at 4p.m and everybody had a job to do, as we had two tents to pitch, get a meal and wash up before 6pm when darkness falls suddenly. We were running low on water and offered to buy some from a petrol station. They were using bore water, running a Lister engine to pump it up and gave us two gallons. We carried a folding table with four seats, all combined, which was a great asset. I always think a meal on the ground is more of a picnic for the ants than the humans. I unloaded the roof rack while others prepared a meal and pumped up the beds. In less than an hour we were having our tea and supper combined. There were several brilliantly coloured parakeets flying about in the tops of trees and bullfrogs were complaining to each other concerning the shocking shortage of water. We turned in at 6pm, pretty tired, as we had done 260 miles that day, some of it on really rough roads. As it turned out it was fortunate that we were tired for we discovered that we had chosen a campsite within 50 yards of a creek bridge. There was no harm in this if it hadn’t been for the fact that most of the planks on the bridge were loose and as soon as it got dark all the heavy lorries in Australia decided to make for Cairns, crossing the bridge like a herd of elephants stampeding in a drum factory. The next day we rose at 5am but couldn’t strike camp until 8.30am because the tents were wet with dew. When we did get going, we found ourselves in real outback country and saw something we had been looking for – an aboriginal stockman sitting well back on the rump of his horse watching over 500 head of Hereford cattle. Because of the drought they were being moved south along recognised stock routes and sometimes these routes paralleled the road. Miles and miles of barren country, no grass, all the trees dead and no animals or birds. At least, so we thought, until a two-foot lizard crossed the road in front of us. He froze on seeing us coming and I straddled him with the wheels. This was lonely country, with mountain ranges to our left and the Pacific about 5 miles off to our right and it was here that we had our worst moment of the whole trip. The bitumen road suddenly changed to rough corrugated gravel, and it was on the brow of a hill. I did not see the change in surface in time and we took a series of potholes at speed, which nearly shook our teeth out. When I depressed the pedal to accelerate the engine roared up and I found that I had no drive. Immediately a broken back axle came into my mind as the car was slowing to a stop. How far was help, I wondered and what could I do about it? As there was no grating noise, I thought I would try third gear, in case of a gearbox failure, and to my relief the drive picked up again. I then realised what had happened. The gear lever had jumped from top to neutral with the shocks from the road. When I returned to work and told them what a scare we had had, someone said “that’s not unusual here. Whenever I go into rough country, I get my wife to tie the gear lever to the floor with a piece of string once I’ve got into top!” The further north we got the warmer it became, and we passed cars with canvas water bags hanging from bars in front of the radiator. These bags hold about two gallons of water, and this is apparently the only way to carry it in high temperatures. It would be very hot water if carried in the boot. The evaporation through the canvas lowers the temperature of the water and keeps it cool enough to drink. It is something to do with the kinetic energy of molecules, but you will know all about that anyway. At midday we arrived at the Tropic of Capricorn and stopped to have a look at an aluminum pylon erected to mark the exact latitude of 23.5°. The temperature was 85°F and we had crossed into the tropics. We were approaching Rockhampton and passed a lake with hundreds of herons and pelicans. Rockhampton was our furthest point north. It was a fine city with wide streets and coconut palms down the centre, blazes of colour everywhere with bougainvillea and poinsettias. Average temperature in the winter is 67°F and only exceeds 95°F for 17 days of the year. It has been known to go up to 114°F. We had hoped to go further north than this but the very bad weather we encountered at the start of our tour forced bus to cut back our programme because of time. Rockhampton was the best place we’d found so far, very clean and tidy with an obvious civic pride and very prosperous looking. We spent two nights in Rockhampton in a beautiful fibre glass caravan with a Morphy Richards fridge and electric cooker. A laundry was available with plenty of hot water and all the services the traveler could want. The trams ran down the centre of Rockhampton, the driver ringing a bell to warn absent-minded motorists. We found the people in Queensland very friendly, and they live at a much slower pace than the Sydneysiders. On our second day at Rockhampton, we visited the copper mine at Mount Morgan, having a three-hour conducted tour. An open cut mine, 900 feet deep – the ore contains copper, silver and gold and the whole production goes to Japan. We saw the complete process from mechanical digging to ingot pouring. The ore is ground to a fine powder and separates out by a floatation process leaving slurry of copper, silver, and gold. This is reduced to molten metal and poured into ingots weighting about 2 hundredweight each. When we reached the retorts, they were just about to pour five tons of metal and we saw the most spectacular fireworks display with sparks bouncing on the steel floor in all directions, the intense glare from the molten stream of metal and the showers of sparks made the place look like Dante’s Inferno. I turned away to shield my eyes from the terrific heat and found I was facing one of the foundry workers. He had his name on a metal badge riveted to the front of his steel helmet, Alf Brimstone. I could hardly believe my eyes! When I got home, I looked up the Oxford English Dictionary and there it was Brimstone, the fuel of hell fire. I thought Charles Dickens couldn’t have thought up a more appropriate name if he’d tried. In the afternoon the botanic gardens were visited in Rockhampton were visited and I discovered a new parking hazard. One had to look upwards before parking the car. Many palm trees were carrying coconuts and if one of these dropped on the roof from 35 feet it would have left quite an impression. That evening we were preparing to turn in when my daughter Anne spotted a large spider making for the light in the doorway. The sun had set, and I suppose the light attracted him in the caravan. He was on the side of the van, and I had nothing in my hands at the time, so I whipped out my knife and took a stab at it. This seemed to interfere with his steering mechanism, and he started to go round in circles, so I knocked him on the ground and trod on him. This was the first time we had seen a large spider since we came out to Australia, but of course we were in the tropics. The following day we started the return journey and I drove 355 miles before 6 in the evening. I forgot to mention something we saw on the way to Mount Morgan. The road climbed up over a mountain range and there were some very tight hairpin bends. To stop drivers from taking these bends too fast the council had put posts in the middle of the road. Anyone taking a corner too fast and swerving out across the wrong side of the road might or might not live to regret it. We’ve travelled in several different countries but never seen this done before. I felt much safer when taking the outside of a sharp bend with a drop of 509 feet on my left. On our way back we saw the Glasshouse Mountains again, but this time in fine weather. What a fantastic sight they were rising straight up from the pineapple groves like cones or candle snuffers. It was Captain Cook who gave them their name. At Brisbane we turned inland and left Highway 1 for a district called New England, with many Scottish names such as Glen Innes, Ben Lomond, Aberdeen, Warwick, Ipswich & Puddle dock. We even came across a Welsh name - Llangollen. This was a rich tableland of pasture, citrus plantations, and grain fields. We climbed up through Cunningham Gap to the Darling Downs. When we reached Stanthorpe it was late afternoon and we started looking for a caravan site. We had left it rather late for camping and for hiring a caravan too, for all we could get was a converted bus. When the Queensland border was reached, we went through the tick gate. An inspector examined the contents of our boot, saying he was looking for rocks and plants. I thought that fruit was the forbidden import. We now wished we had brought back some cheap pineapples. We had seen these at Nambour. After the tick gate we pushed on to Tenterfield, the town of willows. You cannot imagine what a lovely sight it was to see the fresh green of waterside willows after the grey green, sun scorched eucalyptuses that we had passed for miles earlier on. Seeing a nice creek which looked a likely place for prospecting the children tried their hand at gold panning and looking for gems. Although it was very rough there was plenty of room for the five of us and what it lacked in amenities it made up for in novelty. My children thought it was just the ticket, so we unloaded all our bags passing everything right down the bus to the sleeping quarters at the back end. After our evening meal was finished and just when everyone was ready for bed, I couldn’t resist the temptation to call out “all change”. Situated next to our bus were two old boys with permanent quarters in a small caravan and a couple of timber shacks in which they did their cooking. Another small shed rather intrigued us because we could see a small red flame through the cracks in the boards and my wife was convinced, they were running an illicit still. I think I rather spoilt the idea by suggesting that it could be a Calor gas refrigerator. However, we were off early the next morning so we will never know. As we were on high ground it was fairly cold at six in the morning, so our idea was to motor on for about 50 miles and then have our breakfast which we did on a clearing between the road and the railway line. The table and chairs were all set up and the kettle was about to boil. We heard a noise like an empty rail truck coming. When it came into view it was a rail trolley. Four men were sitting on a flat truck with four wheels, facing each other in pairs, and working a lever backwards and forwards to propel the wheels. We supposed they were going to work, but it did seem a funny sight to us and no doubt we appeared to be a surprise to them. It was some time before we got over the shock and waved to each other. We gave them some of our tin plates and they panned in the traditional way, scooping up sediment from the bed of the stream and gradually washing it away with a sideways motion. They said it would be nice if they could find enough gold to pay for the petrol we used on the holiday. I said “yes it would’ but they didn’t. Now I suppose everyone does the same as I do when touring a long way from home, one watches the dials on the dashboard and listens for the slightest noise which might spell trouble. I kept an eye on the water temperature gauge, as we weighed over 2 tons. It normally reaches 76°F but suddenly it started to rise, and I wondered if the fan belt had gone, but fortunately it levelled off to 85. I carried a spare belt, but one must be a bit of a contortionist to change it. Then someone shouted from the back of the car, “we’re now over 4700 feet above sea level, we have just passed a sign”. “Well, that accounts for it” I said and relaxed once more, thinking the old car wasn’t doing so bad after all, considering its age. We slept in a hired cabin at Glenn Innes that night and explored Armidale the following morning. We were struck by the tidiness of the camp site at Glenn Innes, but we very quickly found the reason. The owner employed a female person that took the role of warder, park keeper, snooper and tidy-upper, all combined. One of our girls described her as a super pernickety fussy pants! We saw an old gentleman come out of the showers and go over to the clothesline to hang up his wet towel. All the space on the lines was taken up, so he draped his towel on a bush. Like a shot, Irma (that was the name we gave her) appeared from nowhere and ordered him to take it down, which he did pretty smart as if he had been caught robbing the poor box. There was a mat on the step outside our cabin and after all the children had bought in the cases from the car, it must have got displaced slightly. As soon as we were inside and shut the door, Irma came round and straightened it up. I could almost hear her saying under her breath “Barbarians!” Two women went into the laundry, and we saw Irma hovering outside, ready to pounce, if they used too much water, left a tap running or drew rude pictures on the walls. We drew the blinds of our cabin in case we should unwittingly commit a misdemeanour. I was going to run a line from our cabin to the roof rack of our car in order to air our tent, but I could see Irma rushing up like the queen in Alice in Wonderland and screeching “off with his head!” We escaped from Glenn Innes Caravan Park early the next morning and just before we reached Armidale we passed Thunderbolt Rock, where Fred Ward, the last of the New South Wales bushrangers used to stand and survey the surrounding country looking for victims. We visited this in 2007-8 Later we came to Kentucky Creek where he was shot. On leaving the plateau country we descended into bush and saw our first live kangaroo, which was about 4 feet 6 inches tall. It crossed the road in front of us and jumped a fence. On reaching Singleton the only accommodation we could find was the Agricultural Hotel. We were too tired to camp and the weather looked ominous. The next day we crossed the Macdonald Range and ran into the first rain for nine days, at Windsor. My wife kept a diary every day and also noted some of the more picturesque names of the creeks that we crossed. Cold Tea Creek, Boiling Point Creek, Jacob & Joseph, Christmas Creek, Old Darkey Creek & Emigrant Creek were some of the names she noted. When we at last arrived home after our 2500-mile tour I looked at a map of Australia and found we had only travelled one sixth of Highway 1, which is 7664 miles long. It certainly is a big country. Our tour is something we will remember for the rest of our lives and our only regret was that we failed to reach Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef, but of course one would require more time and it was our first attempt at exploring more than a thousand miles from home. THE END Return to Menu AUDIOBOOK Now follows 3 SoundCloud audiobooks of the trip, the 1st 2 constructed using text to speech with reasonable digital voice attached, from Jean & Wilfrid's diary of the road trip, the 3rd is with Keef's voice reading out Anne & Margaret's diary. Annie will also do the same thing in early 2023 so we have both our voices for prosperity reading something that really happened. Return to Menu VIDEO I have also included a video of associated places etc. with Keef's voice over as an audiobook reading Anne & Margaret's supporting diary for this trip. Annie will do one as well in 2023 so we have a record with our voices for prosperity later on, a transcript is not available to post here but there is an equivalent PDF on the family tree. Return to Menu

Created by KeefH Web Designs, December 2nd, 2022, 17.31 PM A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog Genealogy Trip No 1 & Not the Motorhome trip No 20: July 7th, 1967 – August 10th, 1967 INTRODUCTION This is a very retrospective blog, during the winter months of November and December 2022 I decided to translate the many of the handwritten diaries we hold in our Family Tree data to supplement our Genealogy info featured here under the Family tab, good website design, backing up audiobooks, videos and slideshow with text. MENU Diary Audiobook Video with audiobook overlay showing relevant ships, voyages, and images from places visited, created via Clipchamp by KeefH Web Designs Trailer DIARY Diary of sea voyage to Australia 1967, 7th July to 10th August, by the Jones family written by Jean Jones, with some contributions by Wilfrid which have been highlighted when it is his piece. I have added some 2022 observations to translate where necessary on odd occasions, the world has moved on. 2022 Summary of ports and journey at sea. Southampton 6th July 1967, 5 days at sea, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria 10th July 1967 , 11 days at sea, Cape Town , South Africa 21st July 1967, 13 days at sea, Fremantle (Freo), Western Australia, 3rd August 1967, 4 days at sea across the Great Australian Bight, Melbourne, Victoria, 8th August 1967, 1 day at sea, Bass Straits, Sydney, New South Wales, 10th August 1967, 35 days on the Fairsky in total, distance being from Southampton to Sydney is 10631 miles / 17108.94 km / 9238.08 nautical miles , so in ship terms that is an average of approximately 260 nautical miles travelled per day. For many days it sounded like a tale of continuous sea sickness, do hope others didn’t feel that way? Wednesday 5th July 1967 Taxi from sister house to station. 12.36 train from Preston to Euston, all luggage aboard, I hope. The train arrived at Euston at 4 p.m. We stayed at Steve’s hotel which was a very poor place , its address was 23 Lower Marsh, Waterloo, London Southeast 1, and its phone number was Waterloo 3534 Wilfrid wrote this bit in the diary. The Fair sky is 500 feet long, 75 feet wide. It was built in 1942 as an aircraft carrier and rebuilt in 1954 as a passenger carrier. Jean then wrote this. Thursday 6th July 1967. We departed Waterloo hotel at 8.47 a.m. and arrived at Southampton at 11 am. There were long queues which was exhausting. After going through emigration, we boarded the Fair sky at Southampton docks. We were in cabins 178 and 180 on A deck. We were allocated deckchairs B234 and B34 (2022 whatever that means?) It was very sad to see all the relatives dock side that were left behind, many weeping. Lots of streamers were thrown and departure music played very loudly. It was all very moving. The weather was bright. All crew members seemed to be Italian as witnessed by many people asking “where is it?” and getting the response “sorry I no speak English”. It was a very clean ship. I saw the ships pilot transfer and waved to him, all very exciting. The ship sailed late at 2.50 p.m. There was a mistake by Bonners (2022 presumably the agent the tickets were booked with?) and we had to pay an extra £32. We found there was no luggage in the cabins , absolute chaos everywhere. We then had to queue for table bookings, everyone was tired and had sore feet. There seemed to be a total lack of organisation. There were telegrams and letters of good wishes for us. Lunch in the dining room was soup followed by steak and vegetables and ice cream for pudding. From the deck there were lovely views of Southampton, the water and then the Isle of Wight and the Needles. Goodbye England. Dinner in the evening was excellent, soup, fish, chicken wing, spinach, sponge pudding and sauce. Friday 7th July 1967. Woke at 5 am and started writing this diary. The ship had more movement now, we were in the Bay of Biscay, but thankfully no one was seasick yet. The children and I are in a 4-berth cabin and Wilfrid is with 3 other men, leaving all his clothes here in our cabin. There are 4 hanging cupboards, 4 chest of drawers, 4 wash basins which were all very clean, 2 blankets and coverlets on each bed. Our steward was Italian and could not speak English. Meals today on table 29 and then table 9 Brian had booked early. Breakfast was from 7-9 am, Luncheon 10.30-11.30 am, Tea 3.30-4.30 pm and finally dinner 5.30-6.30 pm. Some of what we had was cheese & biscuits and apple and coffee. (2022 it is not clear from the diary which meal but guess dinner?). I was feeling better today but my leg was still painful and swollen. Wilfrid and I went to the cinema in the evening to see Colour, we didn’t see it through. We did more searches for luggage, by 10 pm everything was now here. Some things were smashed but the goods were safe thank goodness. So, to the details of meals. Breakfast juice, poached egg. I was sick slightly, 10 minutes earlier. So, we all took a sea sickness pill at 10 am. We walked around deck and focused on the horizon. Brian looked at ships through his telescope. It was fairly bright today weather wise, but the sea became choppier. Lunch Anne missed this as felt sick. It was soup, Russian salad with mayonnaise, beef burgers, cauliflower, potatoes then ice cream with nuts, fruit in jelly and cheese if you wanted it. We then rested in our bunks. There was a fire drill at 4.40 pm. 7 short blasts followed by 1 long blast on the whistle. Initially instructed in Dining room A and then assembly by lifeboats 10-14a. All very exciting. Man overboard is 1 long blast. Fire on board is 2 long blasts. We then changed into thinner dresses and went to the lounge and rested. Wrote postcards and listened to a very dull quartet. Shades of Max Jaffa. Dinner was a very grand sounding menu. Soup, chicken, cod fish with potatoes, Pork , apple, carrots, peas, potatoes followed by cheese and biscuits. Strawberry tart with ice cream. Cinema in the evening, which children were not allowed at was a comedy, we then went to bed early. Saturday 8th July 1967. Facts by Wilfrid, the clocks were retarded by 1/2 an hour. The distance from the Needles was now 323 miles in 18 hours (6.46 longitude) We get news sheets each day which show the activities of the day. The clock going back ½ hour will happen frequently on a Saturday night. Saturday’s speed was 17.5 knots. 1st day travel 340 miles, 2nd 432 miles, 3rd 435 miles more to follow hopefully. Woken at 7 am by Wilfrid, I had been awake earlier at 3 and 5. We booked the deck chairs after breakfast and the Las Palmas tour. More queues, it cost 25 shillings each (equivalent in 2022 would be £18.20 each i.e., £91 for the whole family). Deck chairs were £1 each for the whole trip, not bad. We secured 2 deck chairs. Meeting at 10 am, briefing by female members of the crew, there were 3 of them the only name I caught was Mrs. Cooper. Lunch was excellent as usual. Afternoon we used the deck chairs, it turned very warm, then had a bath and changed for dinner. The children bathed in the pool, had showers, and changed. We saw a ship on route to New York all lit up. Dance in the evening, we watched for a while. The lounge was decorated with soft lighting. Sunday 9th July 1967. Breakfast 7.15 am, then writing in the room. For dining always queues if as late as 8.30 am. We have avoided this so far. Our deck chairs are near the swimming pool which is good for children but tending to get smuts (2022 presumably from ships funnel?) so we moved our chairs, but the Steward was after us. Now in the lounge for lunch. Had dinner then went to the pictures, the children are not allowed, although for the second time I went “Frankie” Stephen Boyd to bed, they don’t make the arrangements clear. (2022 will assume some form of rhyming slang for getting annoyed but don’t know what). Monday 10th July 1967. Las Palmas, Spanish city, and capital of Gran Canaria. 6am. Rose at 5 am, dressed quickly and went on deck, it was dark, but Las Palmas was all lit up. The lighthouse to guide us in was flashing. All very exciting. At breakfast had a chat with an aussie from Brisbane. He said that we were going to the best place of the lot to live in i.e., Sydney. The next bit was written by Wilfrid. The ship tied up at 7.03 am and we left on the conducted tour at 7.40 am. £1 5 shillings each. It was in a Commer van (2022 hopefully not the current day white van man variety). The quay side was 1 mile long. In Las Palmas there were cave dwellers. The ground was dry everywhere, boulders and gravel. All gardens need constant watering. Palm trees and flowering shrubs, lots of geraniums. Saw the cathedral, dark dismal grey stone. Most buildings were khaki coloured. Saw some nice flats. Bought bed spread £5 (2022 would now be a price of £73). Our tour guide could speak English. Bought 4 post cards, saw small brooch plus a lovely painting , oil on water of the bay, plus one of the roads done in oil. Got back to the ship at 11.10 am. Cheap shacks all along the quay selling unusual items including binoculars and bedspreads, some interesting transactions. Saw several ships coming into the harbour. Very busy roads. Left Las Palmas at 4.30 pm. The hooter frightened us as we were on the top deck. The sea became rough after leaving Las Palmas , no sun and overcast all the time. Now back to Jean’s words. “Música” we were piped on in great style. Saw captain on the bridge , ordering gang plank up. Jean’s next words are about the visit to Las Palmas, just written in a different order. A girl in national costume presented me with a carnation, to be paid for naturally! There was a large hotel with attractive gardens with palms and brightly coloured flowers. Lots of cottage industry shops. We saw the museum. Columbus and ancient mariners’ instruments. Many courtyards with interesting views, 2 parrots, old well that Columbus is reputed to have drunk from, models of ships, manuscripts, etc. Lovely flowers on the island, lots of geraniums, hibiscus. Now text switches back to being on the ship having left Las Palmas. Sat in lounge, had Australian wine, horse racing game soon, Anne and Margaret played cards, we listened to the music, then retired to bed, the sea was fairly rough. Tuesday 11th July 1967 Breakfast 7am, porridge, bacon, and egg for me. Talked with woman who was going out to Queensland. She described the lovely, coloured birds and the noisy Kookaburras in the morning. I hung the washing out on the last available line. Enrolled Brian at school on B deck. None were available for the girls. Wilfrid filled in more forms and had them checked. Documents of identity and to let us know we will be in the State queue at Sydney. Sitting on the deck with all the bare bodies, mine only partially. Had lunch. More sunning , washed my hair and the children’s, ironed, hung up more washing in the cabin then played deck quoits. Dinner was soup, fish, chicken etc (the usual) apple pie, cheese, and biscuits. Wilfrid played shuffleboard with the children. Went to the Beethoven concert at 9.30 pm. I heard that some washing had been stolen. Now off the coast of Africa, gold coast. (2022 now Ghana) Thursday 13th July 1967 After breakfast Anne went to bed because she was feeling slightly sick. I felt heavy too and the weather was oppressive. Had a game of hoop-la with Margaret and Wilfrid. I did rather well. Still off the Gold Coast of Africa, the air feels steamy hot. Treasure hunt at 4 pm. But I felt rather poorly and tired so lay on my bunk and dozed off. Not too well at dinner either. Took sickness pills and recovered a little. At 9 pm we walked round the deck. So warm no cardigans needed. Deck officer doing his rounds again. Took Anne and Margaret to the lido bar where a teenage dance to hi-fi music was on (2022 you ravers you , ha-ha clubbing at a tender age). Watched for a short time, the music was so loud. I peeped in at the pirate’s dance. All decorated very nicely, people dressed up in pirates gear, very picturesque. The people who had found keys had to try and open the chests with the doubloons in. The winner found carrots, cabbage, and a bottle of rum. Ships officers all standing at the back. Very handsome well-built chaps (2022 naughty, naughty ha-ha). Talked to old lady of 70 (2022 70 is the new 21 #fact) from Newcastle going to Sydney to stay with her married daughter. She said it was lovely out there. We have been making slow progress because of the fairy strong winds coming towards us. Commentary by Wilfrid. South easterlies only did 411 miles today because of winds and current. 17 knots, 150 miles off the African coast. Friday 14th July 1967 Newssheet. Brian goes to school at 9.15 am. The girls, Wilfrid, and I on the sun deck. Very strong winds today made things unpleasant so didn’t stay long. Also, very cloudy. Felt much better today. Ironer 2 sheets after lunch. Had a game of cheat with Anne, Margaret, and Wilfrid in the main lounge. Snoozed a bit then had tea and biscuits in the dining room. Lifeboat drill at 4.40 pm. Which was the same as before (2022 repetition makes perfect!) in dining room A. Brian had been playing bingo in the cinema. 404 miles so far today. We then went and sat on the sun deck. Girls went to see the same film as us tonight, an Australian film, we sat in the lounge, then table tennis just before dinner, so had to rush to get dressed. Saturday 15th July 1967 Breakfast then games deck, had a game of table tennis. Our waiter is Franco Castanio who comes from Northern Italy. Very handsome, pleasant and we are lucky as some are a little surly. Sat on the sundeck after lunch, very hot but windy. Wilfrid’s legs got over cooked. Children saw “Crossing the Line” ceremony. Wilfrid and I “rested”. We crossed the equator at 5 am. Marvellous dinner, lobster, turkey, Alaska cake bought in procession in darkness all lit up (2022 a process still enacted on cruises to this day). We all applauded then the chief chef and his staff marched around to further applause. The Alaska cake was light sponge with ice cream and meringue on top, we also had Italian wine. We all got certificates, proving we had crossed the line. We had travelled 408 miles today upto 12 noon. (2022 so probably a good length travelled by the end of the day, maybe a record?) Boeing-Boeing at the cinema, mildly amusing. Dressed up in lace dress and a good thing too as the photographer took us all sitting at the table. We looked in at the dance, rather hot and crowded so we went to bed. Sunday 16th July 1967 Woke feeling rather poorly, had breakfast but still no better, shivery and headache. Either lobster or too much sun the day before. Went to bed after breakfast but got up, as we had booked to go on the bridge. A nice young officer spent 30 minutes showing us all the instruments. Most interesting. The radar was not working as there was perfect visibility today. Next bit by Wilfrid. Mostly British instruments, Decca, and Marconi. (2022 learnt something today, I had naively assumed they were Italian) Saw control of fire doors and inclinometer, 20-degree roll in the Australian Bight last year apparently. There was a chart table with 100 flags for signals. Next bit is by Jean. The quarter master was at the wheel. All senior officers do 4 hours on, 4 hours off in charge of the bridge. The young man apologised for his English. We assured him it was excellent. I again felt very poorly after lunch so had a sleep after washing, ironing and hair washing. I had some nice new nail varnish, crystalline oyster pink. Had dinner, very little, stormy at sea, saw the sun setting, lovely pinks until obliterated by the black clouds. Wanted to see the film at 9.30 pm but too poorly, head aches and shivers. Monday 17th July 1967 401 miles up to mid-day. Felt better, but severe back ache first thing. Breakfast 7.15 am , early as usual. Then games deck after ironing done. Watched a game of shuffleboard in a tournament. Wilfrid asked to take score. Showed Brian’s friend Ronald Mitchell (2022 do you remember him, Brian?) my coins. He showed me his as well. His father is a farmer in Queensland, mainly bananas, we then swapped coins which was to his advantage value wise. We 3 played cards then more boys arrived, so broke it up as it was getting noisy. After dinner saw and Australian film on the steel town of Newcastle. Some shots of radiant migrants in lovely homes who had made good. Then a film on decimal currency and trains right across Australia (2022 Annie has now travelled both the Ghan & Indian Pacific, well parts of their journey at least). Then to bed Tuesday 18th July 1967 Felt heavy on awakening but first reasonable sleep of voyage, so cold outside that everyone was in the lounge playing cards, draughts (2022 somewhat appropriate ha-ha) and chess. A few brave souls out competing in shuffleboard, hoopla and deck quoits. A blast of cold air every time the door to the deck quoits was opened. Sewed my dress after lunch, shortened it. In the morning had a very interesting talk with an elderly couple who have lived in Sydney for 16 years. They say it is the land of opportunity and very beautiful. They didn’t enjoy their holiday in England, he caught flu. In the evening it was a French film with Jean Seberg and Stanley Baker etc. (2022 In the French Style, a romance). I rather liked it; Wilfrid thought it slow. Wednesday 19th July 1967 Games deck, Wilfrid didn’t feel like taking part in a team. Lunch then bath and rest. Reading in the bunk. Brian won a prize at bingo, well done, then dinner. It was a rather dull day, very blowy and the deck was cold. In the evening there was a film on Melbourne and one called “the way we live”. Most interesting showing how immigrant families from rent to their own homes, with all the gadgets. No details on finance or lists of housing, naturally! French’s Forest too. Thursday 20th July 1967 Felt very tired and not too well so Anne, Margaret and I stayed in bed and regretted it later as felt rather sick. Weather and sea quite rough. Had lunch and retired to bed again, slight diarrhoea (2022 sorry I’m just a transcriber here #smile) not sea sickness. The girls bathed and sat on the sun deck for 20 minutes. Saw 2 albatross gliding in the slip stream. A fine night, their flight is supposed to be unlucky! Strangely enough Wilfrid had heard of a death on board. Wilfrid slept until 4.30 . I felt much better after a good blow. The sea looked very silvery with the sun shining on it, but a storm quickly blew up and it rained a little, our first. Sat in the lounge in the evening and played cards. Wilfrid saw a film again. I stayed in so that the girls could see the horse race. A man sitting next to us won 7 shillings, but it cost 2 shillings to enter. (2022 so todays equivalent would be £5 winnings, £2 to enter, not cheap). Had lemon drink as felt poorly and so tired. Went to bed but still rough so little sleep. Friday 21st July 1967 Woke at 7 am not feeling too grand, rather washed out. Toast and tea for breakfast. After lunch we went on the sun deck and had a marvellous view of the mountains as we approached Cape Town. Most spectacular. Table mountain seen very clearly as there was no mist. Queues to get off, packed like sardines, not for us, not again. We waited and had hot lemon drink. Eventually got off at 3.50 pm. Not too far to the shops from docks. Black Africans sitting around the docks waiting for work. No smiles. Across railway line, no crossing. Black children selling newspapers with bare feet. (2022 sadly probably evidence of this to this day) Cape Town nestles under the mountains. Very sheltered and surprisingly clean, with splendid wide streets and pavements and fine buildings. Good shops, every luxury here. All the whites look prosperous, and we are amazed at the large number of expensive cars. Traffic was very fast, and you have to watch you don’t get run over. Went in a cheap store but only bought sweets, cotton reels and post cards. As we had picked up a map and been told of the Botanical Gardens at the top of the street, I sent back Brian to collect Wilfrid, who said he couldn’t walk, to tell him to struggle on a bit further and rest in the park. We had left him behind beforehand. Light failing already so we had to speed up and find him. Lovely afternoon, warm sunshine and this is their winter. Flowers blooming and a very pleasant park. Very tame grey squirrels who went right up to the children. Gorgeous orchids and lilies in the hot house. Statue of Smuts and a large cannon. (2022 Jan Smuts, significant South African who served in the Boer War & was a British General in World War 1). Parliament house, museums and art galleries were near the park. Pity we didn’t have time to take the mountain lift up to table mountain as perfect visibility. 4 pm had a roll and Danish pastry and pot of tea at the Harlequin restaurant. Half the ship turned up too. Only grand restaurants for 6 course dinners were open which we and many others did not want. Nice to have a pot of tea after the terrible ship tea. Always with dried milk or something. Restaurant used tea bags of course but very good. Gentleman opposite had huge helping of steak and salad, so he offered some to Anne and Brian, which they reluctantly took. He aired his views on Apartheid , naturally I disagreed. He said he respected the British, asked why we were going to Australia when South Africa could do with “people like us”, I said I couldn’t live in a country where even the air is permeated with Apartheid. He then said that the British didn’t understand things and that the coloureds are happy and a lot was being done for them, He was a Boer with a typical accent. I didn’t ram all my views home much as I would have liked. When strolling around later , accosted by an elderly black woman with sad story, I said sorry we are also poor. Little black boys playing in the street, rushing to direct cars into spaces, hoping for tips (2022 sod sad , well-done Jean for standing up to the Boer, luckily things have moved on a bit nowadays, but one can always argue not enough). 4 fierce Alsatians inside new cars. Leaping up ferociously as each black person passed and taunted them. Too tired to do more so back to the ship. Marvellous to see Cape Town lit up at night. A beautiful sight. Strange to see the car lights going up the mountain side. Notes. Bus conductors look like army men. Uniforms apparently military style to impress the blacks. 1 rand is roughly 10 shillings (2022 value would be £7.50p) Wilfrid went up at 1 am to see the ship leave. Very cold in the evening after a warm bright day. Envious glances at my warm nylon coat. The Morecambe lady had bought chiefly thin things. Saturday 22nd July 1967 Last of Africa 10.30 am, very mountainous. Margaret has loose tooth. Sea getting very rough and cold. Everyone with warm clothes on. I have caught Anne’s cold and sore throat. Sat on games deck in the afternoon and played shuffleboard but not feeling good. Film in the evening billed as comedy!!! About the trials and tribulations of young love and parents’ marital problems. Perhaps educational to Anne and Margaret (2022 was it ladies? #smile ) Sunday 23rd July 1967 A very rough night up at 2 and 4 am. Couldn’t face breakfast. Rolls bought down for me and then bought up, Joke!!! Ship rolling and pitching quite severely. Ate biscuits in the afternoon, felt very ill, could keep nothing down. Felt deathly and worse acute back ache. I had nothing to eat all day. Lots of people on the ship were ill. All entertainment was postponed. Some doors to the decks were locked due to the strong winds. A bad bad day. Know what it feels like to feel like death. Children washed some clothes as I felt too ill. Monday 24th July 1967 Felt very week and poorly. Ate piece of toast which tasted leathery and ghastly but felt must make some effort. Anne and Margaret did a little ironing. We all sat on deck; it was blustery but not quite as cold. Felt a shade better in the air. Had a lemon drink as did Anne & Margaret. Salt all over the decks from the spray. Ate a very small lunch, sat in the lounge. Young woman behaving very oddly, she had been tested mental in England whilst on holiday (2022 wonder what this means, maybe Epileptic and / or psychotic not sure we will know as not there, wonder if you siblings remember?). Anne’s cold very severe, Margaret has tummy ache, half or more of the passengers have suffered from bouts of diarrhoea (2022 observation, maybe food poisoning?). Lots of people looking vey ill and wan, so I was not alone in my sufferings. Back ached terribly. Hope it isn’t my kidneys. Frightening thought. Hemmed up the girls’ dresses but felt coma like so retired to the cabin and had a nap. Went up to dinner. Still no appetite but ate a little to keep up my strength. Walked up and down with Wilfrid in the evening. Very few ere out as it was dark and blustery. However, felt better for the air and exercise. Turned out of lounge as being decorated for a dance. Wrote diary until Australian films , about Melbourne, come on at 9.30 pm. Eyes very heavy but feeling a bit better. Hope I can sleep. Everything shakes and rattles all night. People wishing the voyage was over. Until Thursday we have been on the seas 3 weeks with 2 more still to go, it is 4900 miles from Cape Town to Freemantle. (2022 i.e., by Thursday 27th July at sea 3 weeks) Glad it seems not quite so cold and miserable. Amazed at such conditions when we were near the equator. Tuesday 25th July 1967 Joined ship’s library. A good night for me!!! Sat out on a seat until the lounge opens at 10 am. Rather cold and blustery. Played lexicon with Brian, Ron, and Michael. Felt more like myself. Went up to the games deck. Just started raining. On the way back down my skirt went up like an umbrella, much to the delight of 3 sailors on the boat deck who broke into song. Had tea with pleasant lady from Queensland, and a clergyman in mufti, as I learnt later. Went to slides on hostels afternoon at 4 PM. Arizona raiders in the evening. Wednesday 26th July 1967 Felt rotten, missed breakfast , fed little. Very poor night, hardly slept at all, mainly a digestive upset, had hot lemon drink and felt a bit better. Sat on deck and the air revived me a little but felt very fragile. Met Mr & Mrs Mitchell (banana growers from before) in the foyer. Washed hairs, cut fringes and curled girl’s hair (2022 bet you enjoyed that ladies #smile ships pudding basins maybe?) They both looked much better. Margaret and Anne did the ironing, I had a bath. We went to the Australian films, very good. Investments in New South Wales also showed the shores and Bondi beach lifesavers. The cinema was packed. We are now 450 miles south of Madagascar. Thursday 27th July 1967 Now been at sea 3 weeks. Slept from 12 midnight to 5 am. Breakfasted at 7 am with young person from Melbourne. Had interesting conversation. He had been staying at the St Augustine’s college in Canterbury. Wrote letters to Mr W and Hilda (2022, do we know who they were?) Margaret and Wilfrid also joined the library. Cost was 10 shillings which was refundable (2022 £7.50 in todays money). Very rough outside, doors locked on one deck, as sea spray blown right across. Lunch was fun with plates and glasses all over the place. One or two crashes. Lounge again reading, it’s the smoothest place on the ship. Then washed and ironed. Now south of Mauritius island , a British possession, by mid-day. Dinner still sliding about. Good thing we have a high ridge edge on our tables. The Roman night was cancelled due to rough weather. Friday 28th July 1967 Missed breakfast as had a poor night. Had a good blow on deck after changing library book. Vicar spoke to me. Children’s fancy dress party. Marvellous costumes, Brian as Sir Francis Chichester. Saturday 29th July 1967 Brian had present at 9 am, a toy rifle. Slept in afternoon. Film in the evening on Hobart, fishing and cars. Looked in on Roman entertainment, couldn’t see properly as so crowded. Some of the costumes were very good. Had hot lemon then to bed. Sunday 30th July 1967 Felt better, but weather very cold. Boiled egg for breakfast, not hot as usual. Talked to young man again who was going to Sydney. Not quite windy outside but chilly, wore fur coat. Played shuffleboard with Wilfrid and changed our books. Lunch, we didn’t like the olives (2022 shame one of our favourites) Afternoon read books, Wilfrid wrote letters for Sherrard’s news. Reverend Hatton spoke to us again, he made a point of seeing us. Are we interesting or souls to be saved? Had to fill in our customs forms. Spoke to Bournemouth couple and lady who lived in Johannesburg . Couple from Inn at Worplesdon (2022 village just north of Guildford Surrey) , yarned about Mayford (2022 village near Woking) and inhabitants, a small world! Then talk and slides on Adelaide and Canberra. Monday 31st July 1967 Seas comparatively smooth today, 12.30pm noisy children in the next cabin banging and screaming. Filled in customs forms. Told about excess baggage charges, £4 10 shillings and scooter £15 7 shillings and 6 pence to be paid in Sydney (2022 a grand total in today’s money of about £310 , ouch!). Medical arms to be looked at on Wednesday. Fine of £10 for nonattendance with no good reason given , we will attend. (2022 £150 in today’s money). Looked for toolboxes, 2 more in hold, they have J on them (for Jones). 2 to 2.30 pm talk on baggage procedure in the baggage room. Needed for disembarkation. Film, the spy who came in from the cold, Richard Burton, I couldn‘t keep wake, too slow paced. Australian film on “Queensland and a spoonful of sugar” , Wilfrid went. Children in cabin next door kicking up, 12.30 pm still at it , again, I could shoot the parents. Tuesday 1st August 1967 Poor night’s sleep, no breakfast, changed library book, rough seas. Had hair washed. Landfall and roaring 20s party cancelled due to rough seas. Woman fell off chair in the dining room. Glasses and plates hurling around. No dinner for me. Wednesday 2nd August 1967 Slept most of the morning. Ships photos reduced to 1 shilling from 3 shillings and 6 pence (2020 42% mark down, now £15 in today’s money from over £50, a bit steep in anyone’s book). Medical inspection today, only arms and hands. Lovely weather after lunch. Sat for an hour or so on deck. Fine blue skies but rained late in the day. Thursday 3rd August 1967 Margaret felt sick and had to leave the dining room table, sadly diarrhoea. We all felt poorly after a very rough night so dozed again. Woke at 10.30 am when the ships engines wee reducing speed. A marvellous sight to see AUSTRALIA. A bright clear day, and good visibility. Saw tug leaving after dropping immigration officials and mail. Had lunch then we had our documents checked by the officials. We soon got through it as there were several men dealing with it. Fremantle, Western Australia. (2022 Connor’s landing) Waited on deck near gang plank. Wonderfully exciting and moving to see the large crowds waiting on the quay. Waving, calling and flag flying. Two gang planks moved in by cranes, very efficient. A fine ship terminal, clean and smart and very well organised. We changed some money and set off to see Fremantle. Left at 12.45 pm, ship is sailing at 5 pm (2022 so you didn’t get long, it’s such a lovely place). Didn’t go to Perth as time limited. We were agreeably surprised to find Fremantle clean with good wide pavements and pleasant shops. Two elegant churches, looking so English. The sun shone continuously but there was a chilly wind, just like a splendid spring day at home. I noticed the wide variety of fish in the shops. The large gum trees (eucalyptus) a fine tree with blossom still on it. Seats by fountain, and in the shopping precincts. Coles an excellent clean store, better than Woolworths. Had tea with real milk and in teapots! Also scones and Wilfrid had an apple pie. Very good and reasonable. Noticed a real bush type with the Aussie hat, also a very bandy tall man. Must have been riding all his life. Pleasant girls in shops. The Woolworth’s girls asked us where we were going. Said her mother had sponsored two British families. Felt very tired but such an enjoyable and interesting outing. Toilets cost 5 cents. Got back to the terminal at 16.40 pm. Loudspeakers were asking us all to return to the ship. Streamers thrown, crowds again waving and cheering. Two people missed the boat. We leave punctually to catch the tideway. Heard the ships music again. All very, very splendid. We were immensely cheered to find Australia at our first glimpse to be friendly and pleasant. We all stayed on the top deck to get a last look at the land. Went to pictures with Anne. First men on the moon film, ideal for children. Friday 4th August 1967 Woke early as boat rocking violently. Turned the southernmost point of Australia at 4 am. (2022 Albany and into the Great Australian Bight) Crockery rolling about at breakfast. Had to hang onto table to prevent chairs going over. Very rough seas. Sat in reading room, changed library books. My diarrhoea worse! Feel and look very groggy. Dozed and read all afternoon and evening, no dinner for me. Saturday 5th August 1967 Quieter night, toilet at 3 am but slept a bit better. Brian given certificate for satisfactory attendance at school. Still had porridge for breakfast but no lunch. I look ghastly. Black shadows under my eyes. Children did some ironing. I let “Fred” Antonio do the cabin then crawled back into bed again. I feel poor, headache and wrote diary in the afternoon. Went to dinner then to bed. Our waiter is Italian, Franco Castanio. Sunday 6th August 1967 Breakfast 7.30 am. Sat on deck, changed book. Talked to Australian in the lounge from Brisbane. Learned a lot from him. He is in the railways. Lunch learnt that the mental young woman was in the sick bay. Packed some clothes, what a rotten job. Hung wet clothes in Wilfrid’s cabin. Farewell dinner, turkey etc, wines, singalong, poor show! Bed , read Monday 7th August 1967 Breakfast. Should arrive in Melbourne, 2.30 am. On the 8th Changed money, got a map. Commonwealth band, Mr Ryan very helpful and pleasant. Very dark and stormy today, rough seas. Visibility very bad. Glad of my fur coat. Played cards, bed. Couldn’t sleep, Noisy neighbours, shouting for Mrs McFee at 2.30 am over the tannoy, a relative on the quay. Doors banging , luggage being lifted by cranes. What a night! Tuesday 8th August 1967 Melbourne docking at 2.30 am. Telegram received from Mr Hume & Mr Moon to say temporary address at Manly. Breakfast 7.15 am. Frisked for fruit. Dingy terminal at Melbourne compared to Fremantle. Port Melbourne station, Victorian trains, thick mist, cold, old fashioned main station, walked to the city centre (2022 Station Pier Melbourne Port is now classed as Heritage and Flinders Street station in the centre of Melbourne is definitely that, I suspect Melbourne has come on quite a way since we were there in 1960 and Annie’s family in 1967). We walked to the city centre, saw daffodils in flower and strawberries in the shops. Toilets 3 cents. Good shops and very busy. Not an attractive city in our opinion, not very clean. Had scones and a cup of tea. Good post office, modern, sent telegram. Walked over bridge above the River Yarra, looked rather muddy. Very fine park, but cold and miserable. Open concert hall being painted. Saw Government house. Had tram back to the centre , 49 cents for 2 stops (2022 £4.15 in today’s money). Good museum, gorgeous butterflies, interesting Australian animals, birds, snakes, aboriginal spears etc. More tea and sandwiches, Coles store well in evidence, better than Woolworths. Next bit by Wilfrid re Melbourne. We saw the Greek quarter, bought a waltzing Matilda cloth, very tired, rousing send off, large crowds, Jean chatted to a bank man on the top deck, he was apparently very nice. Wednesday 9th August 1967 Had a reasonably good sleep, felt better, packed clothes, ironed everything, labelling, then lunch. New people joined the ship, approximately 250 from Melbourne. (2022 Presumably either going to Sydney or Brisbane or back to UK? Who knows) Viewed coast of Victoria, bright, excellent visibility, island, lighthouse (2022 wither King Island, Flinders Island or Tassie, but I doubt it was Tassie, its huge, just not sure where the Fairsky went around the coast, but definitely past Mallacoota.) Miles of deserted beaches and forest apparently! Washed everyone’s hair. Dinner, a woman was weeping. Cola colas. Early to bed, early to rise, we hope, should arrive in Sydney 7.30 am. Pilot point 5.30 am. Thursday 10th August Hurray, final destination. Customs, Interview, and baggage check. Should meet Mr Hume & Mr Moon at 9 am. Magnificent view of Sydney and the heads , we were all up at dawn. The harbour looked magnificent, coloured roofs, houses decked on hill tops, a glorious technicolour world. THE END OF THE DIARY Return to Menu GRAPHICALLY SHOWING TRIP WITH AUDIOBOOK OVERLAY Return to Menu AUDIOBOOK OF THE TRIP Return to Menu

Created by KeefH Web Designs, November 3rd, 2022, 14.19 PM OVERVIEW We have had a ticking noise issue behind what we thought was the control panel in our van for about 6 months now, and no it wasn't the usual dial on the fire not being set back to zero on the gas half, i.e., it is trying the pilot light ignition. We got to the point whereas the level of noise grew we turned off the habitation switch which charges the 12V battery when you are hooked up to electrics at a site, which on one dark long night recently was not clever as all the internal lights went off. So, I researched Google as you do looking for a specialist in electrics for recreational and / or leisure vehicles and I'm so pleased to say I found Gary. What a lovely fellow with 47 years' experience in the field and just so knowledgeable. We had to drive to his house in Lichfield but so glad we did. He was initially perplexed by the ticking noise but eventually traced it to a hidden transformer gadget (don't ask me I'm no expert) whose fan was partially stuck and as it tried to rotate made what sounded like a clock ticking #hintsandtips #horology So well done, he is going to order a new one for us as it was unrepairable and fit it for us, we will return to Lichfield which as a byproduct of this we managed to call in on, never having been before, fab city. He is always busy so I wouldn't want this post to swamp him with work, but if you need an expert Gary, is your man. Can't recommend him enough to my motorhome-travels fraternity. UPDATE 24/11/2022 Gary now had the part, a replacement 10-amp charger for the habitation (hab) battery, which has no fan and because we have many of the internal lights replaced with LED ones (easy to do folks honest, if I can do it anyone can) the drain on the internal battery is not so much. We drove to Lichfield once again (a lovely city and home of the other Darwin, Erasmus) taking a somewhat torturous route, note to self don't let satnavs take you down long winding single-track roads of in the middle of nowhere #haha where we met again Gary and his very kind wife who was lovely chatty and offered us a drink. Anyhow Gary replaced the offending 18-amp part, and all is now quiet and correctly charging the habitation battery. Whilst in the process of checking all the chargeable mains connections Gary discovered some reverse polarity #overmyhead where someone (to be identified) had put the live in the neutral and the neutral in the live, presumably by mistake, as some stage in the main switch board. #notgood #dangerous #scary Gary sorted this and retested everything. Now all good. We asked what the effects of that would be, if you were touching the metal of the van outside and put your hand on the ground whilst mains were plugged in you could get a nasty electrical shock. Horrible and something we had no idea about. We all reflected on why anyone would do such a thing and concluded it can't have been wrong from when the van was built by autosleeper in the Cotswolds as they know what they are doing. The only thing we know about in our tenure of the van, now 10 years plus, was Don Amott's whom we don't trust having used them for many years as it is where we bought the van put in a new fire as a condition of our purchase, the old one did not work. Gary said the connecting wires were short so maybe, just maybe they did this to make it fit, but realistically who knows. I have to say we had so many issues with their service over the years we would NEVER use them again #hintsandtips So pleased Gary fixed this for us, now no noise whatsoever and the battery we know charges properly, we could not recommend him highly enough a very helpful chap and just so knowledgeable, we would always use Gary for electrical and probably gas work on the van, just hope now nothing goes wrong again for a while. Got the van home, getting ready for winterisation we washed it with the soapy high pressure jet spray, chammied it down to remove the last residues of summer dirt and left it to dry before putting on the breathable cover for winter resting. Happy bunnies now with Wendy houses repair work.

Created by KeefH Web Designs, October 18th, 2022, 11.28 AM A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog Motorhome trip No52: October 5th - 17th 2022 NOTTS-> Norfolk & Suffolk, Various Sites Mostly Caravan and Motorhome Club Sites (M&CC site) -> NOTTS 509 miles MENU Introduction Diary and Calendar 2 nights at Sandringham Estate (M&CC) 2 nights at Pinewoods (independent site) Wells Next to the Sea 3 nights at Incleboro Fields, West Runton, Cromer (M&CC) 3 nights at Great Yarmouth Racecourse, Caister on Sea (M&CC) 2 nights back at White House Beach site, Kessingland, Suffolk Highlights / Lowlights Photo Gallery Talkies Video - Live Action Reels Maps Audiobook and Dickens Site Details etc. That's all Folks INTRODUCTION 2 weeks away in the lovely Wendy house basically travelling around the coastline of East Anglia starting at Kings Lynn and ending at Kessingland all in amazing sunshine and blue skies, what's not to like plus we managed rather naughtily to pull in a whole stack of cake eating, which we justified with the line " we are on holiday!" #naughtybutnice We have previously stayed in East Anglia in the van and with family and friends, go straight to those blogs by clicking on the links below Norfolk Suffolk We loved every minute of it and the van performed well, there was a mixture of Motorhome & Caravan club sites (M&CC), we have renamed it from Caravan & Motorhome club sites as we are Motorhomers, no offence Caravanners but it's like Snow boarders and Skiers, friendly rivalry is the spice of life! Beside driving only 509 miles, which in fairness apart from the journey there to Sandringham and back from Kessingland was very little daily as we mostly used buses and foot to view most of the East Anglian coastline and some of the inner villages, we walked about 29 miles, an average of just over 2 miles per day with one day around 5 miles being the most walking. History time folks, you know I like to do this! It is worth noting that as you enter Norfolk you are reminded of their most famous son, Horatio Nelson, the county sign says, "Nelson's County". He was born at Burnham Thorpe which we did visit on the last day on the way home but were deeply disappointed by the lack of tribute, one solitary plaque on a wall on a newly built Nelson's barn, even the church (his father was vicar of Burnham Thorpe), was a huge disappointment. Whilst being proud at a county level, maybe they are embarrassed by his relationship with Emma (Amy) Lyon / Hart / Hamilton, actress and model or as I prefer to call her "Page 3 stunner", at the local level, so much more could be made at Burnham Thorpe for this great Naval Admiral #justsayin We spent a bit of time reading up on him, Emma and the daughter Horatia whom they pretended was adopted in Naples, named Horatia Nelson Thompson (surname after a ship mate of Horatio's) later Ward (she married a vicar) and is buried in Pinner, Middlesex, note to self-visit when we next see Cuz Ros & Nigel. Very weird relationships, what I would call a menage-a-quatre, when they all lived at Merton House, Surrey, Sir William, Mrs Cadogan, Emma and Nelson, oh and daughter Horatia. Click on the links to read more #historylessonover Our dear friend Kevin Jackson "Moose / KJ" (1955-2021) was writing his last short historical on Nelson, it was going to be published via Amazon, but they told me on numerous occasions it was being held up although I can see it is now available should you wish. Plug for Kev BUY HERE Nelson’s Victory: Trafalgar and Tragedy published by TSB | Can of Worms, 2021 (ISBN 978-1-911673-06-4) UK & (ISBN 978-1-948585-19-4) US Kev had borrowed a lot of Captain Cook biography books from us (our travel hero) and it was going to be his next, he asked us if we would mind if he put in a foreword to us in it... Mind? my god we were absolutely "stoked / made up", not sure if it was finished or will ever get published but we will keep an eye out! You can see many of our Motorhome travels in search of Captain Cook under our 2007-8, 2010, 2013 and 2017 trips links in the trailer! We attended a memorial at the Hammersmith club to remember Kev on Saturday 22nd Oct 2022, arranged by his wife Claire, a lovely fitting tribute to a wonderful man, I have included my own personal add on to that here Return to MENU DIARY This shows where we went and camped on each day of our 13-day mini break in Norfolk & Suffolk in October 2022. This slideshow is taken from what Google Photos has automatically recorded about the known locations of where our pictures are taken from, all very clever but I thought I would at least record it here. Return to MENU 2 DAYS AT THE SANDRINGHAM ESTATE CAMPSITE Covers the 5th and 6th of October. Left home about 11 a.m. and headed off towards Norfolk via our usual route. Stopped on route for lunch in a layby on the A47 with cobs and sandwiches (including marmite, yippee!) love it or hate it, I love it and of course Annie's homemade lemon drizzle cake, start off the way you mean to continue I say. Arrived at the Sandringham Estate Caravan and Motorhome club site at about 2.30 p.m. We were surprised at how empty it was, nicely laid out site really in 2 areas with 2 facilities blocks, 1 motorhome service point which we used to fill up with water, habitation 110 liters for our Wendy House and of course the loo flush. Chose a pitch quite close to the amenities block, pitch number 73. See Site Details. It was also close to the woodland pathway leading across to Sandringham, which we did try visiting the house and gardens the next day, but the house was closed as a Friday and as the car parking fees were huge, we decided against it. You can park for 30 minutes for free, hardly long enough to even walk to the ticket office. Anyhow we had a bit of a walk around the site and out the entrance researching where the bus stops were for our trip to King's Lynn the next day. Loved the Bug-ingham palace insect houses dotted around the site and the tributes to our late queen. After this we went back to the van and carried on listening to our Richard Osman audiobook before about 6 p.m. trundling down to the gate to buy our lovely fish and chip supper from the mobile van that visits the site, luckily for us on a Wednesday evening. Thursday by the way is the wood fired pizza van at the gate, but we skipped that as Keef had the trad lasagna, salad and garlic bread at the ready. Thursday started as a very sunny day, and we walked to the bus stop just outside the site (other side of the road) to catch the bus to Kings Lynn. The opposite way the bus goes is Hunstanton on the coast. King's Lynn was only about 15 minutes by bus, the Hunstanton trip is about 30 minutes. Love our old codgers bus pass, long may it remain, quite a perk! King's Lynn has an association with bad King John being one of the last places he visited as was evident from the Statue, stories about his treasure and cup and sword at Guildhall and Gaol. The history trail around King's Lynn was lovely with many plaques pointing out what was what, we learnt a lot #culture from historic Marriott's warehouse museum, the old Purfleet dock area, back streets, priory, granary, malthouse, Custom House, Whites House, King's Lynns famous son, captain George Vancouver (yes, its Canada again folks), jail, guildhall, the guy in there giving us a personal history tour (obs. bored) , did you know on the dole was to do with the doling knife used to dole our left overs to the poor, I didn't #fact , St Anne's church, the Globe, Market square, the fabulous Minster and old town area, King's Lynns museum, quayside, walks, Asda on the way in and later teehee for booze and cakes (ok not cultural but almost edifying Haha) Here is a slideshow of our images taken during those 2 days, it last approximately 7 minutes. Return to MENU 2 DAYS AT WELLS NEXT SEA OR AS AWAG SAID WELLS NOT NEAR THE SEA Covers the 7th and 8th October. The above introductory comment you would understand if you visited the beach and the tide was out as it was when we went, it's a true hike to the sea. Anyhow in chronological order, we packed up and left the Sandringham site after using the motorhome service station to fill up again and drain off our wastewater etc. Our first stop was Castle Rising, an English heritage site not far from the campsite, we parked up and went to take a view of the ruins. Nice area though and fabulous sunshine to show it off in its splendour. We then called in at the ASDA store on the route to King's Lynn for provisions before going to the Queen's Sandringham (I guess now King Charles III's estate) how weird is it saying that it's been my lifetime so far! We parked up and walked to the ticket office, huge gardens, cafes, shops but sadly as it was a Friday the house was closed, so we decided to travel on. Annie was interested in getting some lavender for po-pouri bags, so we went to Norfolk Lavender on the A149, bit difficult parking a motorhome up in their somewhat cramped packed car park but as Wendy house is so slender it wasn't an issue. Sadly, they didn't have any, but it was a fun look around and their Farm shop was a delight, bought coronation chicken pasties for lunch and some Black Bomber cheese, a particular favourite. Amazing gourds on display and fresh local produce, the varieties of Norfolk apples I had never heard of was extensive. Anyhow we took our ill-gotten gains off to Hunstanton sea front and had lunch there, pasties and Annie's remaining lemon drizzle cake, why not? Amazingly blowy on the sea front, i foolishly got out for a closer look over the cliffs, I and the van were rocking and not in a good way. After lunch on the way to Wells-next-the-sea we stopped at the Burnham Overy Staithe windmill, we came across Staithe and Wherry a lot as words in Norfolk, a wherry I knew as an old-style boat but staithe I had to look up, "a landing stage for loading or unloading cargo boats", there you go although as the windmill was now inland, I wasn't sure how it applied. After the windmill we went onto the campsite, checked in and set up on pitch 18, good facilities, not so great pitches, and at £44 a night the most we have ever paid in the UK, I have to say not worth it. Mobile vans doing fish and chips, Thai, Indian, Pizza etc. visited the field day by day but we had enough in the fridge already so ate in. The next day after showers we walked to the beach and had a really good walk along, a massive expanse of sand stretching miles. All owned by the Holkham Estate. The beach huts are possible the best I've seen on any beach even beating Southwold. After the beach we took the tow path back along past the RNLI (contributing, they do a great job and in my humble opinion should be centrally funded) and along the harbour back into the town, a lovely stroll in beautiful sunshine, great views, bird life and benches should you wish to sit a while and take it all in. In town we had a coffee and lemon drizzle cake. A long stroll up the main street to the end, uphill, looking in the very interesting array of fisherman and other types of shop, of course being forced into having a local made ice-cream on route. Unheard of normally in October. we then came back downhill via one of the many little jitties, adorned with flint fisherman's cottages, just lovely. By the time we had walked back to the site we had walked just over 5 miles, exhausted we revived in the van with, you guessed it cake and assam tea whilst listening to a few more chapters of the Thursday Murder Club, we slept well that night. See the Spoonbill Drift Touring Park details HERE The slideshow is 5 minutes long Return to MENU 3 DAYS AT WEST RUNTON, NEAR CROMER Covers 9th, 10th and 11th October. Sunday morning breakfasted we "broke camp" and having realised we couldn't make the departure time for the Wells & Walsingham steam train from the Wells station, Keef rang to see if we could do a return journey from the other end of the line at Walsingham, the lady said yes, so we got our skates on and travelling through some lovely Norfolk villages parked up at the village car park (pay and display) beyond the Farm shop and literally legged it to the station with a few minutes to spare. A very nice 30 minutes each way through rural Norfolk on this narrow-gauge railway, I heard a guy say he was taking lots of pix to feed his son's obsession with train porn #haha the journey was great fun, and we avoided the Essex Hen do that had decided this was their day out, little did they realise it was quite a hike at the Wells end to the nearest pub #haha again After the train we had a look in the Saint Seraphim Trusts reused post Beecham station now a shrine with tranquil and well-maintained gardens at the back along the old platform. A true trainspotter delights. The garden shed had lots of memorabilia about the villages old station and line, such a shame, will they ever be resurrected Mr. Shapps, Grrr, another broken promise #sorrypolitics After this we moved the van down into Walsingham and had a good walk around, quite a historic village, very catholic ended up on our circular walk at the farm shop, much more expensive than the one at Norfolk Lavender so we gave it a miss in the purchase stakes. From Walsingham we travelled on through many lovely villages especially the wonderfully named Little and Great Snoring. Annie my lips are sealed! We arrived at the West Runton Incleboro Fields caravan and motorhome club site at about 5 p.m. Lovely staff so helpful and friendly, got settled in for the night and planned tomorrow's excursion. For site details click HERE. We were on Pitch 16. Monday, we visited the National Trust's Blickling Hall, not surprisingly at Blicking. Full of history it was where Anne Boleyn was born, not a lot of people know that, as Michael Caine once uttered in his best Cockney. A fascinating place with many clocks, grapevines, vistas and a whole lot more topped off for Annie with the Norfolk Craft market in one of the upper floors, we had great fun and learning all day and the guides were very knowledgeable. See the slideshow to get a much better idea. We met an older couple who had the same van as us so traded notes. We had lunch in the van then started slowly making our way back to the campsite. We stopped at what we thought was an open craft center on the way back at Abby, only it was closed apart from (his words) the mad metal man with anvil but no forge, making / welding a giant Giraffe for a commission, he was a lovely bloke who let us watch, ask questions etc. The lady who had asked him to make this said it would enable her to think she was on the safari she had never done every time she looked out of the window. She must have had a huge garden. I joked we could get him to do a mouse for ours. After taking to him for a bit and asking all manner of ill-informed questions #teehee we returned to base via Cromer where we parked up on the sea front, fairly empty as late in the day, we walked through the many landscaped sunken gardens along towards the RNLI station and pier, stopping by the west cliffs for some fab views. Something that saddened us was the passing of the Cromer bagots which you could see the remains of on the cliff edges, traditional goats that had long since perished. Apparently, they will make a return in summer. That is such good news. Happy and filled with new knowledge we settled back in for tea on pitch 15. The site goes across a golf course on entry, FOUR! On the Tuesday we walked past the West Runton common and railway station to the bus stop to catch the bus into Sheringham, where we had an extensive walk through the main street, shop hopping, especially drawn to the Norfolk ales shop and the hippy shop down to the coast and along the promenade quite a way past beach huts and sandpipers as far as the east end and back via the murals showing crabs, lifeboat history and town criers. Almost back to the bus stop Keef had a look at the North Norfolk tourist steam train before we caught the bus back chatting whilst awaiting its arrival with a couple from Ely Cambridgeshire who owned a static caravan at West Runton, fun times. If you want to see site details, click HERE. The slideshow is almost 12 minutes long You probably all know of my huge interest in Horology and Blickling Hall National Trust house enabled me to further indulge my passion in all thing's clocks, here are just some of the many English, French and American ones I found at the house. Just wonderful Return to MENU 3 DAYS ON THE GREAT YARMOUTH RACETRACK, LISTED AS CRAISTER Covers 12th, 13th and 14th October. Wednesday, we packed up and headed off towards Horning ready for our paddlesteamer ride which I had prebooked (essential) online. As we left the site across the golf course, we stopped opposite West Runton common as we saw a muntjac deer chomping away. He didn't seem concerned at our presence and indeed allowed me to both photograph and film him. We parked up in the sailing club paid car park and were surprised to find first a silver shadow roller parked in the car park behind us, then a successive series of old English cars dating back to the early 1900's all being Alvis's and it was a club who were on tour and going to join our 1 p.m. 90-minute round trip on the Southern Comfort Mississippi river boat cruise. We started talking to one of the club members who was very pleasant and most informative, what nice cars and all in such pristine condition. After a brief chat and viewing we went off for a walk around the village of Horning, an incredibly quaint place with thatched roof pubs, expensive properties on the water's edge with space to park your boat. On the way back to the paddle steamer, we had to arrive 15 mins early for boarding we noticed a set of early Dickens books in the Post Office window. We bought then and quickly rushed them back to the van, heavy they most definitely were. We then joined the queue for our cruise it was packed but we managed to get a prime seat outside up top enabling fab views and easy listening to the captains great and humorous commentary throughout our journey. We turned at Ramsbottom Broad in the Broads national park which we had entered from the river Bure which was mostly what we travelled on. Past various luxury abodes, the ferry inn, the marina with its Spoonbill metal statue, even the ranger who patrols the broads, the vicar's rectory off church road, returning the way we went, a little blowy but nothing a hat and gloves couldn't sort out. As we came back to land 3 older guys were racing model yachts in the harbour, much like the real thing, magical. We thanked the captain for a fun afternoon and returned to the van to warm ourselves up with hot soup and bread and yes you guessed it, cake! We then carried onto Gorleston St Andrews church across the huge new Great Yarmouth harbour bridge in search of Annie's rellie Spencer Smythe who was Great Yarmouth harbour master for many a year. Sadly, no luck despite looking at every row of gravestones. We then came back over the bridge to our next campsite, called Craister but actually in the middle of the Great Yarmouth racecourse. Thursday morning, up early, breakfasted and walked out across the Melling Road (sorry not sure what the crossing across the racetrack at Caister is called) to the bus stop and caught the no 8 local bus into Great Yarmouth bus station. From here we caught the express bus, either X1 or X11 can't remember which into Norwich bus station a very fast ride, normally costs £7.50 free to us pensioners #tick Walked around various older areas of Norwich, Timber Hill, Castle gardens and old Market area. To be honest much of the older areas like Castle Fee etc. have been redeveloped so overall we were quite disappointed in Norwich and the 60s planning department should be shot, the best building by far is the original Norwich Union headquarters (now Aviva) so in the end we decided to cut our loses, had a lovely 2 course lunch in Bella Italia, did a quick bit of shopping in the Tesco's express and hot footed it out of there back on the bus to Great Yarmouth and then back to the campsite. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing. Friday, we caught the bus no 8 the other way as far as it went which was to Marram Drive, this was after an aborted attempt to walk out of the site to the left and down to the coast there, fairly quickly we realised that was impossible as it was open scrub land and miles to walk so the bus was a far better option to see the beach at Caister on Sea. Marram drive was quite close, we had a nice long walk as far as we could go on the promenade towards Caister town, Keef getting onto the beach shore and sand under foot. Once we could go no further, we turned back and walked through the Caister Haven holiday camp, more or less empty, used the cash machine, observed what it had tom offer, it claimed to be Britain's 1st ever holiday park, not sure if that is true. Walked all the way through and out onto the main road to look for the first bus stop and caught it all the way back to the campsite. Caister is nice and interesting. Still bits we couldn't see so will bring the van back tomorrow. It you wish to see the site details plus some stuff on Norfolk bus routes click HERE. The slideshow is 7 minutes long Return to MENU 2 DAYS BACK AT WHITE HOUSE BEACH, KESSINGLAND, SEE BLOG 184 FOR EARLIER VISIT Covers nights of 15th and 16th October, we travelled home after 13 lovely days in the sun on the 17th of October. So, Saturday 15th we packed up the van and went and did a bit of shopping in the Tesco's on the outskirts of Caister we had spied on the way in by bus yesterday. After that we drove along the narrow road called appropriately Beach Road but found height barrier bars at the car park in front of the RNLI preventing the van from going in, turned around and went up and parked on the side of the road a bit further up and walked back. A lovely beach area with nice views, interesting fisherman's cottages and outhouses to store nets etc. in, mostly Victorian at a guess. Loved the Lions Head gates leading to the sands. After Caister we drove to the Southtown area of Great Yarmouth to St Mary's church to try and find Annie's relatives gravestone, sadly the church has none, but I have the vicar's number to follow up, Spencer Smythe was a "big fish" in this fishing community for many a year as harbour master so hopefully we will get somewhere with this genealogical jigsaw puzzle. After Great Yarmouth we went to the embankment at Gorleston looking back on the harbour master's house. A nice area with steep cliffs, great views and sunny skies and seas, indeed the cloud formation was quite weird and pronounced as we sat there. After Gorleston we carried along the coast towards Suffolk visiting Hopton on Sea and Potters Leisure resort which we had been to with my parents and sister and family in 1998 & 1999. Then onto Corton beach another family favourite from years gone by. Until we finally returned to White House breach caravan and motorhome site at Kessingland, pitch 92 this time. Checked in, set up, got ready to walk up to the fish and chip restaurant for tea. Very nice meal with a shared chocolate fudge cake and ice cream for pub. The first course being way too filling. #wimps We walked back past the lovely Waterfront where we will eat tomorrow all lit up and busy at night. Sunday was a bit of a lazy day, Annie's knee was giving her some pain, so Keef went beach combing and picture taking over to the beach, got some nice driftwood and stones. Lunch time we went to the fab waterfront restaurant, so love this establishment, it's what drew us back to Kessingland after last time. Afternoon spent sunbathing and reading outside gearing up for the long 5-hour trip back home. Monday, we packed up earlyish, got some diesel on route and visited Nelson's birthplace at Burnham Thorpe, see HERE for details. After that we called back into our famed ASDA outside King's Lynn and then wended our way home, a fab holiday, loved every minute and feel like we know the East Anglian coastline quite well now. It you want to see the site plan click HERE. The slideshow is 5 minutes long Return to MENU GALLERY See below for the Highlight images split in 3, firstly us and then the landscapes then finally the cakes (oops) Here is a gallery of assorted pix of us. Plus, Keef at King's Lynn Customs house on the quayside, just love my birthday tee from dear pals Chris & Allyson "iRetired, there's a nap for that" in case you can't read it #friends See our fun motorhome travelling with them back in 2017 Here is a gallery of what I would deem the highlights or maybe just best pictures from throughout the trip, clearly the whole set of our images are included within the individual sections of the trip based around which campsites we stayed at. It lasts about 7minutes and is accompanied by Kate Bush music #strangerthings Here is the gallery of some if not all the cakes we managed to consume during our calorie ladened adventures, our excuse, apart from "we are on holiday" is that as we are now deep into autumn and need to generate body heat during the energy crisis, OK as it was totally sunny during our explorations of darkest Norfolk & Suffolk that "business case" probably doesn't hold water, tee hee #cake So, the cakes we ate were in no particular order, Annie's homemade Mary Berry Lemon Drizzle tray bake, Eccles cakes, millionaire slices, terry's chocolate orange cheesecake, warmed chocolate fudge cake with chocolate sauce, chocolate eclairs, more chocolate cake oh and a few ice creams but they don't count as cake. I've probably missed some but that is most definitely guilty as charged. So now it's back to Cals and carbs in a big way #boo PS it's not cake but I can't sing the praises of Jigfoot, a Norfolk golden ale enough, just loved it, had it first in the Warehouse on quayside in King's Lynn, a 14th century conversion with museum of old King's Lynn buildings and trades, I then bought various bottles and even bought some home #yummy Also, Adnam's ghostship from Suffolk is not bad, had this in Kessingland but have had it often in Southwold before and at Potters Leisure Resort in Hopton on Sea which we did revisit for nostalgic reasons, we went as an extended family with Mum & Dad in both 1998 and 1999. #family Return to MENU TALKIES This is the total set of talkies videos combined using MS Photos app taken from my phone and Annie's, it last about 20 minutes but there are train rides, beach walks, and much much more, give it a view. love #craister Return to MENU HIGHLIGHTS / LOWLIGHTS In no particular order the HIGHLIGHTS would be, sunshine, Wendy House running smooth, a variety of cakes, Blickling Hall NT house and its Norfolk Craft fair, very interesting, the Wells and Walsingham miniature steam railway, 30 minutes each way, we went from the Walsingham end, it's a bit far away from Wells so drove, the garden of peace located on the pre-Beecham railway station, Walsingham Catholic village, a tribute to Charles 1st the Martyr as they named him, Wells beach huts, realising (finally) that my 12V light system in the van only works off the hab. (habitation) battery (silly me!), Bella Italia in Norwich, Timber hill in Norwich, Using our bus passes, proximity to M&CC sites to the bus stops at nearly every site, good stuff , Norfolk Lavender farm shop, listening to the Thursday Murder Club audiobook, Reading Jo Nesbo's latest - The Jealousy Man set of short stories, twists galore, v clever, Annie mastering pix on her phone, Horning and the whole paddle steamer experience (the Southern Comfort) on the Norfolk Broads, the commentary was fun sometimes hilarious, plus getting the complete set of 1930s Dickens books from the local post office there, plus and Horning was the village that kept on giving meeting and seeing the old Alvis car club, just so lucky, Gorleston on Sea coast line, Turner's Walton Bridge (pre impressionism, more Constable) wholly owned by Norfolk and currently on show in the King's Lynn Museum, just wonderful alongside a special Turner exhibition, I spent a while there, the lovely little sandpipers at Sheringham, Steeleye Span (with Maddy Prior) playing in King's Lynn, sadly not when we were there else would definitely have gone, John Sell Cottman, a Norfolk artist from the JMW Turner school, and trained by him during Turner's stays in Norfolk, Marriott's warehouse Kings Lynn, Fish & Chip suppers at both Sandringham and Kessingland, munch jack on west runton common near the golf course entry to the site at Incleboro Fields. Now also in no particular order the LOWLIGHTS would be, Pinewood independent site at Wells, whilst the facilities and location were excellent at £44 a night the pitches were not good, too many sites with grass only pitches when I believed I had booked hard standing, the mentality of some Brits, whilst Wells beach clearly delimited areas with big signs saying NO DOGs people took no notice, clicking relay on switch board in van (gotta get it fixed), Hunstanton, Lowestoft, most of Great Yarmouth, Norwich (medieval my whatsit!) , Norfolk Lavender not having any Lavendar for sale, Boo! The Club site new app not working properly re "take deposit, take balance automatically night before"... in fairness to the great Warden at Incleboro Fields site he reported the problem and rang ahead on our behalf and its will i'm sure get sorted (I ....probably in a minority here....like the new Club site app, teething problems I accept from poor testing, but it will all get sorted) #mytuppenceworth Not being able to find the gravestone of Annie's rellie Spencer Smythe who was harbour master at Great Yarmouth for ages even though we looked in 2 churches at St Andrews, Gorleston and St Mary's Southtown, realising that my phone photos only works with my finger as security, when Annie uses it they always turn into videos, she now uses her own phone for images #goodnews Too many yappy little dogs that sadly started their barking v early in the morning, we like to sleep in when camping, Holkham Hall estate near Wells was far too expensive for House & Gardens else we would have visited, Lowestoft quay side area, old people at the back of the express bus into Norwich taking up 2 seats each or putting shopping bags on the seats preventing people from getting on saying it was full and therefore having to wait for the next bus, appalling behaviour . Return to MENU MAPS NORFOLK & SUFFOLK Return to MENU CAMPSITE DETAILS Here are the images of pitches we stayed at on each campsite, they will be followed by the site plans Sandringham, Caravan and Motorhome Club Site Here are some details we picked up at the Sandringham estate, quite empty really but I guess understandable for Autumn although the weather belied the season Wells-Next-The-Sea, Pinewoods estate This is all private with static caravans and part of the wider Holkham estate, they seem to own the beach as well. We didn't visit as House & Gardens cost £34 p.p. and we didn't expect to be there that long. West Runton, Cromer, Incleboro Fields Caravan and Motorhome Club Site Here are some details we picked up at the West Runton site, quite empty really but I guess understandable for Autumn although the weather belied the season, but also the wardens had closed off much of the site as limited visitor numbers. Great Yarmouth Racecourse / Caister Caravan and Motorhome Club Site Here are a few details including the Norfolk Buses route map and suggestions, we used buses heavily from the site as you can go a long way on an oldie's free bus pass especially with stops really close by just outside the site entrance, ideal for the "hard of walking" like us #smile White House Beach Caravan and Motorhome Club Site, Kessingland Here is a pitch map, our second visit in a month, see BLOG 184 We were on Pitch 92 this time and just around the corner Pitch 93 last time, very handy for sunshine, hence our sitting out on chairs on Sunday afternoon after a big Sunday lunch. Site really attractive for 1) nice warden who know our pals Lawrence & Yvonne (at the Bolton Abbey site in Yorkshire) and they come from Stapleford / Breaston / Long Eaton (indeed the wardens at Great Yarmouth also know L&Y) 2) Waterfront Restaurant and Fish & Chip restaurant and Old Sailors pub (great Gone Fishing local ale) #recommendation Return to MENU AUDIOBOOK AND DICKENS I was lucky enough to buy this set of 1930s Dickens books whilst on our travels from the post office in Horning, many thanks to the older gentlemen who was happy to sell them to us. Just wonderful, clearly, they are not currently in publication order but paying homage to my inherent OCD #nerd I will set them straight Here is the chronological order they were written in, I have read quite a few but will definitely read those I haven't as yet Return to MENU THAT'S ALL FOLKS

Created by KeefH Web Designs, September 19th, 2022, 8.18 AM A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog Motorhome trip No51: Sept 15th- 18th 2022 NOTTS->White House Beach C&MC Club Site, Beach Road, Kessingland, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR33 7RW ->NOTTS 335 miles MENU Introduction / Overview of Weekend You Tube video of all photos and videos Photo highlights and Norfolk / Suffolk "pals" camping memorabilia White House Beach caravan & motorhome club site, Kessingland George Orwell in Southwold Map of the Area Audiobook The end, tags etc. INTRODUCTION We had packed the van, mostly, the day before which was a good thing as it was spitting when we came to do the final packing up. Breakfasted and ready to leave soon after 9-ish Keef had a nightmare time trying to get the iPod touch to play music despite a good long try at it (much to Annie's annoyance) #technologyeh Note post return iPod touch all rebuilt from scratch after resetting ready for music on our next trip. We liked the Norfolk / Suffolk area so much that we are thinking of returning shortly but for a much longer spell, realistically a 4 hour drive each way for a long weekend now we are nearly Septuagenarians is a little too much, it was no issue for a weekend after work on a Friday way back when the boys were young , but that was just a fun escape from work sent with our dear pals, Pete & Joy and family. Anyhow we eventually left after filling up with diesel (wow that hurt price wise, well over £100 for a tank nowadays) #WalletOuch 😉 There is no direct route to Suffolk and Norfolk as we have found over the years, i.e., no motorways so it's mostly A roads like A52 and A47, basically taking us from home via Spalding, Grantham (famed for the Iron Lady), King's Lynn, Dereham, Beccles, Lowestoft and Kessingland. We did stop for some pre prepared tuna mayo cobs at Frensham just before Dereham. #yummy We arrived at the campsite, White House beach at about 2.20 pm this Thursday to check in. Site arrival times have altered recently being 1 pm, and what with the hassles the club has had with its new booking system for both customers and wardens alike we were glad to arrive a little later, there was only a minimal queue. On the last day it looked like Bedlam with so many caravans and motorhomes arriving at the same time. We introduced ourselves to the lovely wardens Helen & Neil who coincidentally knew our pals Lawrence and Yvonne as they had worked with them in Airdrie Scotland and even more coincidentally after Helen rang me a couple of times, we established she taught at a junior school in Long Eaton in an earlier life and Neil came from Stabbo (Stapleford) where his parents still live, what a small world we live in. Anyhow we set off to find a hard standing pitch, we selected pitch 93, set up, it started to rain. It was a good flat pitch and quite close to both the amenities block and the nearby water / bins / ablutions site. Returning to tell Helen about our pitch number we asked for an extension till 4 pm on Sunday to allow time for our Sunday lunch at the Waterfront restaurant. Fully expecting to pay, Helen said it was at her discretion so all good there, thanks Helen.! There are an even number of grass and hard standing pitches on this site with a couple of rows beach side, but they are first come, first served and we weren't first #haha It was fairly windy but had now stopped raining, so we decided to go for a stroll on what turned out to be a very pebbly beach and a long hop to the sea, as it turned out literally, Keef foolishly thought it was sand so wore shorts and flip flops. #ouch We walked over the carefully laid old tyre inners down to the water's edge, some interesting beach plant life and old boats but huge waves and a sharp incline to the sea, so turned back, up to the Sailor's home Inn and nosed in at the Waterfront restaurant. Took quite a few pictures on route. The it was back to the motorhome for a relax and early tea. Spam, Hash Browns and Baked Beans #carboverload and yoghurt for pud. Early evening Keef made use of the TV aerial hook up on the post with his cable and we watched some "real-time" TV including the wonderful Repair shop. Friday was raining most of the morning, probably good for farmers but not motorhomers #haha Keef spied out a pitch for Pete & Joy as the site was very busy and not many folks were leaving. Pitch 117. What I hadn't realised was this was not the pitch without awning P&J had booked, oh well no worries they arrived about 1.30 pm and got set up. We said our greetings, K doing some scones and jam and then we headed off for the Sailor's Home Inn up the road for a jolly good catch up, what a fabulous pub that sold 5 different types of local real ale, we were of course forced to try most but Keef settled on "Gone Fishing" and Pete their "Best", the ladies having wine and Cinzano respectively. What a fun time. 271 years around the table now. In the evening P&J cooked a lovely Lasagna with garlic bread followed by Tiramisu, accompanied obviously by an appropriate amount of alcohol, well why not, we were all on holiday #suchfun Saturday Pete worked out which bus and from where we could use our old folks passes into either Lowestoft or Southwold. As we all love Southwold that was the choice. It's a short walk up the hill to Wash Lane where either the 164 or 99 (differing bus companies) leave from. It's about a 30-minute trip which would normally cost about £3.70. We caught the 164 which came along first. It stops at the far end of the High Street. What a lovely place Southwold is. Weather wasn't bad although a little grey and likely to rain. We resaw many of the shops and architecture we had seen on our previous trip to Southwold, not in the motorhome but in a family rented holiday cottage BLOG 89, we then walked along the beach front, waves lashing at the defense wall, past all those lovely beach huts, expensive to buy and about 9 available to hire (£24 a day). We stopped to watch 3 surfers in the huge waves by the pier and a nut case swimming in the sea, it takes all sort, he looked a little blue in my humble opinion #haha We then strolled to the end of the pier after a brief stop for coffee and then back past the crazy mirrors. There was an appeal for Ukraine van and a bit of history about Southwold celeb Goerge Orwell. We then headed back into town past the stately lighthouse and went into the Tip Tree Cafe for coffee and cake, Black Forest Gateau (very 70s) and Lemon Drizzle. What surprised us was despite the lady saying they were short staffed as the reason we couldn't have a piece of their lovely looking quiche; we saw no difference in cutting cake to quiche, oh well. We just had to live with it with our tongue's hanging out #haha We also bought some nice jams in the shop; the gins however were overpriced. Then it was onto the old Cheese shop and purchasing a huge slap of Snowden's mature Black Bomber, probably along with St Agur my fave cheese. We then caught the bus back to the site and called in for one quick one at the pub, why not? Keef cooked halloumi burger, halloumi chips and garlic bread with salad for tea, followed by citrus cheesecake in little ramakins and cheese and biscuits. A fab day all in all. Lots of gassing as well #obvs Sunday Joy cooked a lovely breakfast and we all started to pack up ready for the return journey but not before being hugely surprised by having Sunday lunch at the wonderful waterfront Restaurant. Must give them 5 stars on Trip advisor. Whilst awaiting going out for lunch Keef helped Helen & Neil, the wardens, take down poor Mr. Hodge next doors awning. The poor old fellow had fallen and broken his arm in 2 places and was all plastered up, he was alone and lived in Kenilworth so was having to be transported back the next day, car, caravan and gear, not a great break (if you will forgive the pun) for this older gentlemen, we all felt sorry for him. Anyhow after lunch we all said our goodbyes and wended our way home, what a lovely weekend Annie & I really enjoyed ourselves. As Boris and Arnie once said... Hasta la vista baby.... Return to MENU THE WHOLE TRIP IN PICTURE FORM WITH MUSIC See our full photo and video diary Return to MENU HIGHLIGHTS & PAST MEMORABILIA See highlights with our pals, what a fun weekend. NOSTALGIA TIME: I have also included a few from our earlier visits to the area, be that Aldeburgh, Southwold, Walberswick, Cromer, Pentney Park and nearby Gayton, Hunstanton (Searles), Hopton on Sea including nearby California beach, Swaffham Beckland Meadows (Blog 45) or Kessingland. As far as I can tell from my photo records we visited June 1986, June 1987, Jul 1990, May 1991, May 1996, June 1999, May 2000, Sept 2002, Aug 2012 so it's been a while since we last visited that area, i.e., 10 years #smile Return to MENU OUR CAMPSITE Here is the supporting stuff for the White House Beach caravan and motorhome club site that we picked up that you may find of interest including i) the site map, we were on Pitch 93 hard standing, very close to good service point, and Pete & Joy were on pitch 64, the only standard pitch without awning unless you include the front seaside, which are impossible to get on anyhow, ii) the site details sheet iii) some stuff on local walks and history of Kessingland iv) the fab real ales at the sailors inn just a short walk up from the site v) the fish and chip restaurant further up the road, allegedly the best in Suffolk, P&J have been there, we will on another occasion. Return to MENU GEORGE ORWELL QUOTES He spent time in Southwold as a teenager and return again to this beloved seaside town in his 30s, he lived next door to the now bakery and then fish and chip shop in the high street, we were reminded of some of his politically astute quotes from both Animal Farm and 1984 but there are many more. Some animals are equal, but some are more equal than others (somewhat prophetic in the current climes)! Big brother is watching I will work harder 4 legs good, 2 legs bad .... and 4 legs good, 2 legs BETTER (Hmm!) Napolean is ALWAYS right Return to MENU MAP Return to MENU AUDIOBOOK You can listen to this blog as an audiobook if you would prefer, I have also provided a full slideshow with an audio overlay, which may suit some, maybe the hard of reading 😉 Return to Menu THAT'S ALL FOLKS

Created by KeefH Web Designs, August 21st 2022 17.58 PM A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog Not The Motorhome trip No 18 : July 29th 2022 – August 21st 2022 INTRODUCTION Go straight to MENU if you would prefer A wonderful family holiday for 3 weeks staying at Regal Palms Resort in the Davenport and Bay Lakes area of Florida, just off the Purple heart highway (no 27) and mostly using the 192 Highway (West Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway, both father and son Irlo Bronson (Sr & Jr) were prominent Floridian Democratic Politicians and the father is best known for selling some of his ranch land to Walt Disney to construct Disney World, there you go a bit of relevant history for you). The 192 got us to Disney (& Universal) theme parks and all the obvious American eateries, some of which are to die for (sadly in some folks cases literally) just loved the all American "big and brash" approach to life for 3 weeks. Not sure I could live there, the gun thing and school shooter issue is very prominent every day in their newscasts (dominated by adverts #smile) plus Florida's republican governor Ron Desantis has views I could never align with , BUT 3 weeks to explore a highly interesting culture that really defines the term "2 nations that speak the same language but are separated by it" was truly a wonderful opportunity spent with my loving and fun, caring extended family, I am a VERY HAPPY MAN #fact Note also entry to Animal Kingdom off the 192 should be via the Sherberth Rd (entry point) where as all the others via the main entry point off the 192 near the Interstate I4 road. We were there for the 25th anniversary celebrations back in 1997, here again for the 50th anniversary and Keef has "joked" back again for the 75th celebrations.... I will be 93... #rockon #MICKEYMOUSEmaybe For a deeper insight and comparison maybe take a look at the NOW & THEN write up. If you would like to see a limited gallery of highlights (42 images) and / or read what they were then feel free to click HERE, thanks. Note all our full holiday images and videos are available via any appropriate section of the MENU. We took some 1,800 images in total between us. Hey after all if it moves snap it, if it doesn't move snap it #hellingerfamilymotto You can also see all the official Disney site guides to help understand where we went and what we did and / or saw. Maybe a look at our summary HIGHLIGHTS will do it for you, wow it was a nice time #fact Big thanks to sis Linda and hubby Ian for the timeshare hire, such a great location with easy access to supermarket, eateries and Disney World. After not being able to locate the place when we were tired on arrival for various reasons (see LOWLIGHTS for details if you are really interested) Keef & Annie travelled via 2 AT&T shops to get a local SIM for Keef & Craig's phones so we could use the Sat Nav facilities and call each other in the parks when we separated for whatever reason, rides / shows / restrooms etc. etc. I would suggest this is an essential requirement #hintsandtips and although not cheap well worth the investment, emergency like car failures, collecting curbside pick up, phoning receptions, take away, medical all may / will be needed and the peace of mind is just fabulous. Having 2 phones with unlimited mobile data meant whoever was driving, Craig & I alternated day by day, could plug into the satnav display in our huge hired Chrysler Voyager, whilst the other could research stuff. According to Google Maps we drove 527 miles in the hire car but who knows if that is right, the one thing I do know is we walked a total of 37.5 miles around the Disney World Resort parks. The area is not called "Lakeland" for nothing, in the middle of Florida there are small lakes everywhere, makes one think when Bronson sold to Walt Disney that he thought he was getting rid of a boggy useless patch of wetlands, how wrong he could be, it, and whatever parcel of that old Bronson ranch Disney Corporation now own is well and truly prime real estate, houses in Florida are the priciest in the States. Overall as pensioners we would probably say that the States was very expensive but that might just be to do with the extremely poor exchange rate at the moment pounds to dollars , when we last went it was £1 = $2, today it was more like parity. Oh well who cares, it was a lovely holiday and you can't put a price on treasured memories #fact Note also whilst using Disney parks there is a $25 daily charge for car parking but it is transferrable across parks on that day should you have that sort of park ticket, we didn't as pre selected which parks on which days #hintsandtips Note you may wish to read this blog as an audiobook, if so click HERE Anyhow do hope this helps others do a bit of research and get a few pointers before going, if you do so choose, I can recommend it enough as a magical holiday for a 3 generation family like ours, Love KeefH Web Designs. MENU Calendar Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Regal Palms & the pool facilities Disney's Magic Kingdom Disney's Animal Kingdom Disney's EPCOT - Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow Disney's Hollywood Studios Disney Springs Universal Studios Fireworks at EPCOT & Magic Kingdom Eateries & Shopping Highlights Highlights Gallery Lowlights Now and Then , Comparing 25th & 50th anniversaries Flights Disney World Resort Entrance Tickets Disney site plans and official maps Typhoon Lagoon Disney Water Park Audiobook Craig's Disneey Werld & Did it! Movie #MakingMemories The End - Tag, Links etc. So love these pictures #smugglypleased CALENDAR 29th July to 21st August 2022 Fun times with the family, use this to see what we did and where we went on our 24 day holiday with Craig, Leanne, Edie and Tate. It of course included that very special day on the 16th for Edie's 6th birthday , it was also the last of our 14 days continuously at the Disney World Parks, a fabulous time of rides, shows, shops, restaurants and meeting celebrity Disney characters, getting there autographs and having cuddles with them and getting our pictures taken with them a true delight for grandchildren #magical Have I said yet , we almost Septuagenarians , walked 37.5 miles around the parks, not bad in that heat and humidity #creamcrackered Note on the 17th we returned to Disney Springs in the eve to watch Disney's version of Cirque du soleil but I sadly left that off the calendar #dumbkopf (see I do know some other languages) #haha I've also used Google Maps time line to capture day by day the holiday, see slideshow attached Return to MENU WEEK 1 - 29th July to 7th August 2022 Summary: There are 660 images in a slideshow lasting 21 minutes followed by a video with speech lasting for 43 minutes. Since we are in movie land the ones with speech we will call "The Talkies" #haha #hollywood The contents of which cover flying from Manchester Airport on the Saturday having stayed in the Premier Inn, quite a posh modern one, and eating at their attached pub, nothing special but good for the Friday eve before flying and it avoided any unforeseen obstacles to getting on the plane, most relaxing. We took quite a few pictures of the take off over England before hitting the cloud and Soarin' through it (this is a reference to the mega ride experience in Epcot which was a 4D hit with one and all in our party, how to fly around the world in less that 80 minutes (well seconds maybe #haha) rather than Mister Verne's days. Our seats were over the right hand wing and engines so a little noisy, Keef took his headphones which were far superior to the free Virgin Atlantic free ones. Watched 3 movies on the way out. The best of which was The House of Gucci (Lady GaGa is excellent) and Kenneth Branagh's Belfast a close second, it certainly passed the time as well as playing with / chatting to grand children over the seat tops, they were all in the row in front of us. Food also not bad and well designed with eco sentiments in mind. I guess if you are burning fuel at a rate of knots as an airline its good to contribute in some small way #COP26 We landed and the least said about the rest of the night probably for the better, if you really wish to indulge them have a read of the LOWLIGHTs, I've warned you it wasn't a great time and boy were we all tired after 22 hours traveling. The kids had a bit of a melt down at the start of driving the new hire car but who can blame them being 5 and 1 a piece. I think the adults were probably close to it as well but we are HELLINGERs and soldiered on. So besides doing some shopping in the very convenient and hugely stocked Publix supermarket a stones throw away up the road in the Berry Town centre area and lots of swimming in the Regal Palms complex with its lazy river, 5ft pool and paddling area Keef, Craig and Leanne tried out the "fast water slide" into the pool. Only Craig was brave enough to lie down whilst descending although I can vouch for it building up speed even if you were sitting on that last bend #fun Loved the Reggae playlist music that adorned the swimming complex, I could almost believe with the sun that I was back in Jamaica. We also went out for breakfast at the i-Hop, a pancake place, and Applebee's , a trad American bar / diner which did fab chicken dishes especially the Lime chicken and meltdown chocoholic puddings with ice cream. Overall I would rate US ice-cream but not eat it in tub loads as sadly many Americans must appear to do whilst watching TV. Don't get me started on the quality of US TV ! Both these establishments were on the Berry town centre site. So what else did we do in that 1st week. Got AT&T Sim cards, unlimited data, for Craig and my phone, Visited all 4 Disney parks for the first time. Ate a buffet lunch out at Ponderosa , a nostalgic visit inspired by Leanne's extended family visit over 20 years ago. I will always remember those brightly coloured sugary drinks and Edie's dark blue and bright red Jelly (or Jello as our Patriots call it) Addendum she didn't eat it after the 1st mouthful #notsurprising Saw and recorded the magnificent 50th anniversary firework shows at both Magic Kingdom and Epcot, both late nights for the grandkids but they were great and loved them. I now know a lot more Disney "toons" than just let it go, Annie & I are determined to watch a few of the Disney's we don't know well, sorry we are old skool ...from Snow White probably only as far as Sleeping Beauty, one of my favourites is Dumbo. Bambi was I think the first movie I saw at the cinema as a kid when Mum took us. We did 1 Magic Kingdom visit, 2 Animal Kingdom visits and 2 Epcot visits in that first week. At Animal Kingdom whilst collecting stickers for Edie's conservation book we visited Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail, Harambe Market , where later in the trip we saw the truly wonderful Lion King show in the theater just behind on the river bank. Plus the whole conservation area where animals are housed getting there via the old train. At this centre Granny, Edie & Grandpa joined the art work class and drew Pula (the pig) from the Lion King, great fun. See our artwork BELOW. We saw various animals and fish which the kids loved. On those 2 Animal Kingdom visits visited mostly Oasis , Africa, Rafiki's Planet watch and bits of Discovery Island. To see more details of all 3 of the parks visited in Week 1 look at site guides and maps HERE. Thanks for looking That's it for week 1 Art work of the highest order, the reality is that our 5 year old (almost birthday time to upgrade to 6) grand daughters effort was easily the best #loveher Return to MENU WEEK 2 - 8th to 14th August 2022 There are 738 images in a slideshow lasting 25 minutes followed by a video with speech lasting for 43 minutes. Week 2 kicked off with our first visit to Disney Hollywood Studios, which seems to have been designed on a 1930s film set theme. Very classy, liked it here a lot, the Star Wars theme now they own Lucas has expanded massively from 1997 and their rides are enhanced, Tate was even quizzed by a stormtrooper, he didn't seem interested #haha The Mickey / Minnie / Goofy train ride was very classy and some of the shows were good. Due to thunder and lightening our 1st Indiana Jones show was wiped out, just too dangerous and because of the loud bangs Edie was not interested in a 2nd attempt although Keef & Annie did for old times sake. Lots of hats were tried on in the various shops and Minnie ears for Leanne and Edie. Street parades (nothing like Magic Kingdom) featured the Incredibles and others. We did a few trips to regal palms pool area this week as well as having a few meals out plus a splendid Planet Hollywood bonanza for our first visit there as well as a late night for the fireworks at Magic Kingdom and breakfast at the Rainforest café in Animal Kingdom, what a surprise that was, just amazing, only at Disney, with thunder and lightening inside the café on the half hour with real rain showers over you. #amazing The restaurant also had a whole host of animatronic animals as well as giant fish tanks, the grandkids loved these. We did a 2nd visit to Hollywood studios as well, getting to know our way around by now. Sadly the white knuckle ride themed on Aerosmith the band broke down just as Leanne and I were about to get near the front of the queue , Friday this week was a lazy one, but one we all picked up a bit of sun burn despite factor 50 sun tan lotion at waterpark Typhoon lagoon. Just shows how intense the sun is in Florida, 34-39c often and very humid. We also did our final Epcot visit this week and Edie had to say goodbye to her beloved Soarin' ride , she went on 5 times in total, it is a very clever 4D experience. It was also our final visit to Animal Kingdom, mostly spent in Asia area just across from the stage Dino land we had been in earlier in the week. Edie and I did the triceratops rid twice. Want to see more then look its all here on the blog via picture slideshows etc. To see more details of all 4 of the parks visited in Week 2 look at site guides and maps HERE. Thanks for looking. Note we also visited Typhoon Lagoon, for which we don't have a site guide but it can be found here and Disney Springs which is included in the set of guides. That's it for week 2 Return to MENU WEEK 3 - 15th to 21st August 2022 There are 461 images in a slideshow lasting 12 minutes followed by a video with speech lasting for 44 minutes. Week 3 started with the last trio to Disney Hollywood Studios and the kids both dancing and singing along to the Frozen show, the male compare was great at ad lib, and very funny. Tuesday saw us finish our very enjoyable 14 days at the Disney parks with what was probably both our longest and most fulfilling day , it was Edie's 6th birthday, we started with a bit of present opening at 257 Bergamo followed by a very posh breakfast in the Royal Table restaurant within Magic Kingdom's Castle, Grandpa discussed Grits with the the suitably medieval attired waiter, he liked them with sugar, YUK! but why does that not surprise me, the gouda ones I had were superb. We then went to more shows and on more rides than we ever have and the wonderful "It's a small world" was included. Wednesday we did a bit of shopping and all ate out at the Australian themed Outback restaurant, great grub cobber. Edie even went to the Sheila's. We had a family swim in the eve before tea. Thursday C&L & Co went to Universal studios and K & A had a chill day mostly eating, drinking and watching awful movies however the Meg Ryan / Hugh Jackman time travel romance from 2001 called Kate and Leopold wasn't bad. Friday was a relaxed day with an early morning swim, our last, then packing and getting ready for the big trip home, you don't wanna know about the car dying on us as we left for the airport, but if you do read the LOWLIGHTS, Grr. We finally managed the full Indiana Jones show, hooray. Used both ferry and monorail at Magic Kingdom. Edie could have had a go on the cable car at Hollywood studios , there and back but we just didn't find the time, sadly. The pilot of the river boat cruise was a hoot. Belle was so nice and Cirque Du Soleil back at Disney Springs on Thursday eve was possibly , no definitely, the best circus show G&G had ever seen. Giant donuts and weird picture templates spring to mind, thats it folks, take a look in more detail through the rest of the menu, I hope there is something to delight each and every one of you. Best KeefH Web Designs. x To see more details of both Magic Kingdom (for Edie's spectacular 6th birthday) and Disney Springs for Cirque Du Soleil which we visited in Week 3 look at site guides and maps HERE. Thanks for looking That's it for week 3 Return to MENU REGAL PALMS RESORT We stayed at 257 Bergamo drive for 3 weeks and used most of the available facilities bar the Spa and eating at the Grill bar, towel hire for the pool was $10 deposit returned when you gave them back and for that deposit you could return them as often as you like, soaking wet during a days swimming if you wanted to. Granny & Grandpa got Edie and Tate a lilo and rubber ring which made journeys around the lazy river a little more fun. On the last day I had to walk from Bergamo back to the office to check out because of our broken hire car but in general one drove everywhere, after all this is America #teehee The pool stuff in fairness was a little too far from where we were. There were minor issue with our stay in the Bergamo villa but nothing particularly serious, more niggles. If you want to read about those click HERE Overall we thought the accommodation and location were great. Above are copies of the guides we were given, the housekeeping phone number was very useful, they got to know me after 3 weeks, indeed their manager did see my point of view when suggested they couldn't come until Tuesday in the last week #assertive Here is a slideshow of Regal Palms resort and the wonderfully relaxing pool time we spent, enjoy Also as Meatloaf (rest his soul) once said Tate loved the Regal Palms pool, especially the shallower baby pool bit where he could play, he has no fear of water and loved going around the lazy river on the Lilo but mostly in Mummy or Daddy's arms Return to MENU MAGIC KINGDOM We visited this park 3 times and saw the parade twice, well at least Edie and I did the second time, Tinkerbell and Chip & Dale were her favourites along with all the Princesses. We celebrated her 6th birthday there on our 3rd and final visit, starting with a fab breakfast in the Royal Table restaurant in the castle. Craig & Leanne had steak, I had old Gouda Grits, you gotta taste local food, so much better than the only time I've had Grits before. Edie's birthday cake was a chocolate mickey head and eats, yummy Clearly stuff is included in the weeks 1-3 You Tube videos but I have combined at least the images here. There are 278 images lasting 7 minutes. The talkies are included elsewhere under weeks 1 thru 3. Thanks for looking, best KeefH Web Designs x I spotted this near the creek in the car park at Magic Kingdom on our first visit, I didn't say anything as both Annie & Edie would have freaked, and we didn't need that #smile #careful Want to see the site guide and map for Magic Kingdom, click HERE Return to MENU ANIMAL KINGDOM We visited this park 4 times and saw the Lion King Show in the Theatre in Africa. Here are some official photographer pix of us all There are 307 images lasting 15 minutes. The talkies are included elsewhere under weeks 1 thru 3. Thanks for looking, best KeefH Web Designs x Want to see the site guide and map for Animal Kingdom , click HERE Return to MENU EPCOT We visited this park 3 times and saw the spectacular Sonne et Lumiere fireworks show around the Lake, plus travelled on the wonderful rides Soarin' and Galaxy. There are 330 images lasting 9 minutes. The talkies are included elsewhere under weeks 1 thru 3. Thanks for looking, best KeefH Web Designs x Want to see the site guide and map for EPCOT, click HERE Return to MENU DISNEY HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS We visited this park 3 times and went on the fab Mickey and Minnie train ride in Main Street. We also due to thunderstorms had to have 2 attempts to see the whole of the Indiana Jones re-enactment of stunts. Its wonderful and not much changed from 1997 only that those stunt men and women have now retired #tooold There are 162 images lasting 6 minutes. The talkies are included elsewhere under weeks 1 thru 3. Thanks for looking, best KeefH Web Designs x Want to see the site guide and map for Hollywood Studios, click HERE We missed out on this one having used a Lightening Lane and queued a bit when it broke down (again apparently last time was for 14 days!!!) they refunded our pass, but it didn't restart during the time we were there that day, good job that in the "white knuckle" ride stakes we did eventually get on Guardians of the Galaxy ride at EPCOT Return to MENU DISNEY SPRINGS We went twice to Disney springs, I guess it is the mega replacement for what Paradise Island was back in the day as the entertainment element of Disney World Resorts offering. Disney springs is huge with many car parks, named after fruits, i.e., Lime, Watermelon, Orange etc. etc. All car parking is free. The first time we went we had a good look around, security is good on entry, all the typical posh shops and of course Disney & Co. which we did spend quite a bit of time in. Keef looked at buying Levi's, traditionally a cheap purchase in the States, but even with the 30% discount they were still way more expensive than the UK, must be the exchange rate or prices in the US have gone ballistic. The Lego shop was fun, Edie played with the available bricks to entertain the kids, Grandpa made a car #teehee We then avoided a mega downpour and eventually legged it over to Planet Hollywood for our pre booked table getting a little wet on route. What a fascinating restaurant. Reminded me of my fave Hard Rock café but with film memorabilia and some fab sing-a-longs. #magic Our second return was to watch Cirque Du Soleil, which was wonderful. You can park in the surface car park for free just in front of the purpose build big top. Disney don't do things by halves #haha Want to see the site guide and map for Disney springs, click HERE Return to MENU UNIVERSAL STUDIOS We had a day off when C&L and family visited Universal, it is located about an hour away from Davenport in what is basically south Orlando. They had a lovely day mostly in the Harry Potter area with Edie using her Hermione wand to make stuff "move", i'll try and find some images, they stopped for donuts on the way back, but as the kids were flagging didn't make it through to 9 pm for the fireworks which was an original intention. It as fun place, much changed I'm sure from our 1997 visit but ET is still there although massively updated. Edie had great fun with her wand , now what exactly does "Expelliarmus" mean, well I'm so glad you asked Harry fans, here you go..... Expelliarmus is a disarming spell, and is used to knock the opponent's wand from their hand. It is commonly used in the dueling club of Hogwarts and in many of the Harry Potter movies. Although called the 'Disarming Charm', it is only used to take wands from your opponent, whereas other spells can be used for summoning or pushing away an object. Here is a very brief you tube video of Craig & Leanne's day out Return to MENU FIREWORKS We were lucky enough to be at Disney's world resort to celebrate their 50th anniversary which meant spectacular fireworks every evening at both Magic Kingdom and Epcot, on reflection we all agreed it was the Magic Kingdom ones that were the best which is to take nothing way from Epcot who used huge screens to coordinate Disney classic songs and screen time with the fireworks over the world lake. By fireworks down main street in front of the castle at Magic Kingdom just edged it for us it was , sorry to repeat the word, just MAGICAL! Do hope these videos do it justice. It should be noted that each "performance" at both parks lasted about 20 minutes with a crescendo finale, our video has captured about 20 minutes combines across the 2, you will easily see which park is which, over the lake at Epcot and in front of the Castle at Magic Kingdom. Return to MENU EATERIES AND SHOPPING We went to very few shops apart from those inside Disney Parks for various souvenirs and gifts, Keef bought himself a NASA T-shirt inside EPCOT but for those outside we got SIM cards from AT&T, Food shopping from Publix, and we visited the old style US store Cracker Barrel and the Magicians Gift Store on the 192. Restaurants we eat at or got take aways were in no particular order, i-Hop and Applebee's at Berry Town Centre , Ponderosa on the 192, McDonald's on the Disney World Resort Estate, Mexico and China in EPCOT, Planet Hollywood at Disney Springs, take away fish and chips from the English bar in Berry town centre, where I had a draft pint of old speckled hen whilst waiting, a great place run by a nice English guy from London who had been there for 14 years. Plus for breakfasts Rainforest café in Animal Kingdom and the Royal Table in the castle at Magic Kingdom, all very magical. I think thats it... oh C&L ate at a Donut place on the way back from Universal on the last Thursday. We also did up sandwiches etc. which we ate in the parks to save a bit of money but mostly in that heat and humidity it was drinks we needed, lots of iced water and Sprite , which worryingly cost about £4 for a small bottle. Here is a short slideshow to capture those events Chinese lunch at the Nine Dragons, China, Epcot, absolutely scummy Final Applebee's meal. What a nice place and great food all just up the road at Berry Town Centre #ace Return to MENU HIGHLIGHTS Being able to spent so much time with family and sharing and building memories, especially nice to see our grand children Edie and Tate, little Tate is learning so fast, his speech and height have come on in leaps and bounds, "did it", "no way", "duddle". Seeing Manatees, such lovely creatures. Edie's 6th birthday, Cinderella brekkie in the Magic Kingdom Castles Royal Table. Breakfast at the Rainforest Café Animal Kingdom, steak to die for at Outback, plus that weird Onion ring. Old store magic, rocking chairs and legging it after Tate's faux pas at Cracker Barrel. The Magicians head and all those totally over the top shop front / displays along the 192. Cheap fuel, not cheap in the US's eyes but certainly cheap for us. Edie dressing up as Snow white. Soarin' at Epcot, Edie 5 Grandpa 4. Guardians of the Galaxy white knuckle ride with Leanne at EPCOT, the best ride I have ever experienced. Lightening lanes (thanks Craig!) Nostalgia for G&G, especially the Indiana Jones show at Hollywood Studios and the massively updated Its a small world at Magic Kingdom , Lazy river at both Typhoon Lagoon and Regal Palms. The Toyland shoot 'em up ride at Hollywood Studios, with Leanne trumping the score line even with Tate on her lap. The Mickey and Minnie Goofy train ride at Hollywood Studios. Chinese lunch at EPCOT. Ice cold water and crusher in 257 Bergamo, Regal Palms resort. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Crush Dudes, Animated drawing instruction by a Disney animator at Animal Kingdom with Edie, Pula from the Lion King. All those Princess characters and others and the delight on Edie's face when she got their signature and a "duddle" from them, plus Granny and Grandpa learning who the hell the were and which Disney movie they were in, lots to watch and catch up on whilst recovering from Jet Lag. The very efficient and easy "meet & greet" at Manchester Airport. Temperatures near the 100 degrees Fahrenheit mark most days, sun bronzing. That fab storm on almost the first night, spectacular! Watching and listening to our team in the Premiership the wonderful Reds, Nottingham forest and its a small world coincidences meeting the guy from Sawley Marina at Animal Kingdom car park #COYRs Some of the fab shows like Beaty and the Beast and the absolutely amazing Frozen show, Tate and Edie dancing along, us all singing Let it go and other "classics" #livetheatre but the top theatre show for A&I (probably the best we have ever seen) was Disney's Cirque Du Soleil "Drawn to Life" , how on earth those uni cycling girls and the Jungle book characters managed the jumping n foot up with no harness I will never know. #spectacular We also loved the Simba theatre show at Animal Kingdom. Magic Kingdom 3pm parade twice especially tinker bell , the fire breathing dragon , Tate waving at Mick Mick and wanting to Duddle Minnie, Craig's love of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast at the Gaston Tavern in Magic Kingdom. Land rover safari at Animal Kingdom. Planet Hollywood lunch at Disney Springs and sing along on the big screen, reminded Keef of his fave Hard Rock Cafe's. The guy in Epcot who said to me "go birds go" as I was wearing my Eagles shirt Craig had bought me for my 64th birthday. What part of Philly are you from he said, Nottingham in England I said #haha Spectacular thunder and lightening on the first night in Polk County, we filmed it, it is a feature along with high temperatures (34c-39c generally about 4pm each day) in Florida, luckily although we were in Hurricane season we avoided those unlike one of our previous family holidays to Jamaica in 2009 when we encountered Hurricane Ivan. Bad news. We did chat to a young couple from Oklahoma in Dino land at Animal Kingdom who said Tornadoes (they were in the alley) were not as bad as Hurricanes, small comfort eh? #smile Having ice on tap, McDonald's cold (very cold) chocolate milkshakes and their McFlurry, all thirst quenching and heat busting! #survival Return to MENU HIGHLIGHTs GALLERY Return to MENU LOWLIGHTS The first and last days. The first day after arrival in Orlando International airport was a nightmare. Hot and sweaty with tired children (and adults!) we were made to wait and queue "in line" for 3 hours to get through border control at US customs. They only had a couple of booths open, ridiculous with at least 3 UK planes arriving at the same time. Then after that due to taking the unexplained "option" of having our luggage transported by staff across from arrivals terminal to terminal A (something if we knew the full facts we would never do again) #hintsandtips we lost 2 suitcases for at least an hour and a half. We collectively had a huge amount of luggage with 5 suitcases on the way out, 2 trunkies, stroller (UK pushchair ;) ) and numerous item of "carry on" luggage so just 2 much to lug for and already fractious and tired bunch. Eventually got them back (they lost 14 items of luggage in total that night) Keef complained to the manager. You had to use the monorail to get over to Terminal A. After getting that sorted and the hire car we had some Edie histrionics when Craig first used the hire car, just a learning to drive it issue, and Edie as a result of her tiredness, all sorted pretty quickly. BUT and here is the BIG "butt" none of our phones worked ( google maps used our roaming credit up amazingly quickly and cost a fortune, we hardly got out of the Alamo car hire place before it was gone) so navigating to Regal Palms in Davenport was a nightmare, we only had a tourist map Linda had sent for guidance, and we drove around and around trying to find it, no chance, stopped at a 7/11 to try and buy a detailed map, no dice in the USA, all use Google maps, so stuffed, Keef took executive decision at about 11.30 pm US time and got us 2 rooms at the Days Inn on the 192 , hugely overpriced and antiquated but perfect for a exhausted family. Not a day we all wish to remember. Sorted with essential US AT&T SIM cards the next morning when we finally found 2700 Sand Mine Road, Davenport The last day by comparison was no where near as bad but still a bit frustrating as having loaded the Chrysler Voyager, a huge beast, but ideal for all us lot, with the bags (an extra one as well that C&L had purchased in Walmart, Clermont (on the 27) for all the Disney extras, plus Edie's birthday. Anyhow the car wouldn't start, some technical fault on the throttle , luckily hadn't happened during the 3 weeks , but meant a whole lot of hassle we could have done without, also no go for our free ride on the wheel at Icon park on International drive and personally for Keef the chance to briefly re-visit Villas at Somerset off the 192 we had stayed at back in 1997. All sorted via Alamo hire company who sent a guy out to tow it away and get 2 Ubers to the airport, time there went quite quickly even with the 1 hour delay in flying departure to 8.40 pm. Keef rang Regal Palms reception to get a extension to 12 noon, free of charge. K had to walk up (bit hot) before noon to check out but got to watch Forest in the bar Vs Everton so every cloud has a silver lining #happybunny Plus Aerosmith's white knuckle ride breaking down at Hollywood Studios just as we got near the front of the queue. Oh and Craig scraping his back on Regal Palms water slide whilst using the go pro, #smile oh and humidity, being chucked out of the lazy river as a precaution against thunder and lightening (never happened!). Edie banging her legs and cutting them after the massive waves started at Typhoon Lagoon and Keef treading on Annie's food in the same aftermath. That dripping tap, grr and needing to use the loo plunger #notnice Also the overwhelming use of "just too much" sugar and salt in and on everything. Maybe dieticians in the states need take a closer look, no wonder governments and health schemes are removing the subsidising of diabetes medical care in the States, it does seem to be a huge growing problem #politicalpointover Bergamo villa issues Also having to chase Maintenance /Housekeeping all 3 weeks to get them to change towels and bedding, they mostly did a good job but never washed the floors as witness by how black the undersoles of the kids feet were when they didn't wear socks. The other annoying factor was the previous people who are likely to be fined re the bins. I spoke to the collectors who come each day as it was never emptied. They will ONLY take away if in big black sacks. We bought some and after I forced them to clean our the fly ridden full bin we never had another problem and they took it away everyday #greatfellows Return to MENU NOW AND THEN We visited Magic Kingdom at Disneyworld Florida for both the 25th anniversary celebrations in 1997 and then again for the 50th anniversary celebrations in 2022. Craig was 15 when we first visited and kindly invited us to accompany him with his own family aged 40 (it was for his 40th birthday celebrations) Great fun, I've provided some graphical comparisons so you can see what has changed over the years both from the Disney perspective and from our families perspective. #nostalgia We stayed at 257 Bergamo Drive, 2700 Sand Mine Lane, Davenport in 2022 and Villas of Somerset , Kissimmee in 1997, not far from each other, see this Google maps direction chart Back in the day (1997) we visited both Typhoon lagoon and Blizzard beach (closed for refurbishment 2022) , the place where on Summit Plummet the steepness of the slide meant your budgie smugglers almost cut you in half as they were drawn up inside your nether regions #smile . The Disney world arch at entrance seems the same , Animal Kingdom was not built, many of the "traditional" rides have been updated. technology is now so advanced in comparison, Honey I shrank the Audience (class leading technology back in 1997) is replicated via many "experiences" in 2022 not least the very clever Pixar shorts 3D experience and its a BUGs life show. We went to Paradise Island in 1997, its no longer around but the entertainments and shopping hub is now the massive Disney Springs complex on the Lake Buena Vista site. In 1997 we went to one of the first ever Planet Hollywood restaurants there (owned by Stallone & Willis) we loved the one we went back to in 2022 at Disney Springs. Return to MENU FLIGHTS We flew from Manchester Terminal 2 to Orlando International terminal A (via monorail off landing area) and back again start and end of the holiday, sitting both times in the same seats over the very noisy wing area, headphones up to highest you could barely make out what the film or music was. Food pretty good though. We were flying Virgin Atlantic on what I thing was a 737 but I'm no expert. Here are our return tickets Here is a You tube video of flying to and from Orlando by Virgin Atlantic Plus a few more images Return to MENU DISNEY PARK TICKETS Here are the tickets we used for our 14 day experience, you also had to use them to confirm any Lightening Lane bookings, there was a charge to skip the queue, on only one ride , Galaxy, their latest mega-ride you had to use a new concept which they may well expand in the future to join a virtual queue , booking online from 7 am at home, and then again at 1 pm in the park. Note the virtual queues , for obvious reasons ran out pretty quickly, it was like booking concert tickets online. #innovation The credit card style tickets are known as a Disney Fast Pass Plus Return to MENU SITE PLANS AND MAPS These are copies of the official guides you can pick up at each park and Disney springs, they are available in all languages as I found when I almost claimed a Spanish version before realising my language skills barely exist #luddite Each section features the cover, a full site map, some words about the park and an index of where to find what, I do hope it helps inform #hintsandtips MAGIC KINGDOM ANIMAL KINGDOM EPCOT DISNEY HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS DISNEY SPRINGS If you want more information or maybe to download printable site maps (not sure how current they are?) this site may well help , click HERE otherwise that's all folks Return to MENU TYPHOON LAGOON We went there on the Friday we had a free day, we had booked an afternoon session at EPCOT but as a Virtual queue for Galaxy was 8 pm and then got cancelled we decided not to go and went back to 257 Bergamo to chill. The wave machine was mega and scary Return to MENU AUDIOBOOK CRAIG'S MOVIE Craig very kindly put this movie together in November 2022 and gave us a full screen premier with popcorn (yuk!), Maltesers, cakes, biscuits and lunch at their house, its wonderful, i love the specialist Disney font and the clever way he has used Apple's iMovie app to show 2 videos running in the same frame, so clever. It includes all of our selected images and videos from the fun family time, making memories. Return to MENU THAT's ALL FOLKS Thanks for reading. A lovely fun holiday time where the highlights well and truly outshone the lowlights As a final piece de resistance have a look at what you can do with the Disney Photo Pass app, all in one guide to booking stuff, searching for stuff, setting up lightening lanes, and generally controlling your visit, to make it even smarter Disney have introduced a smart watch, even more money for them #haha #innovation #hintsandtips Return to MENU

By keef and annie hellinger, June 19 2022 8.36AM A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog Not The Motorhome trip No 17 : May 27th 2022 – June 18th 2022 MENU Introduction Hazelgrove Barn, Laneshawbridge, Lancashire Photoshoot Gartocharn, West Dumbartonshire, Loch Lomond, Scotland A week back and around Sandiacre Covid finally negative after 19 days Audiobook Scottish Travel Blog Routes Retro Scottish Family Travels Videos Tags and Comments INTRODUCTION Welcome to Blog 182, a real family affair. Our family from Singapore were over for 3 weeks, the first time we have seen them in 3 years due to the pandemic. Just so lovely to spend time with them, unfortunately as we let our hair down i.e pubs, restaurants, and crowded places Keef (Grandpa) got covid. Anyhow it was still a fab time. Left at 3.30 am on Friday 27th May to pick them up from Heathrow, got there with plenty of time to spare, mask on I was the first person in Arrivals and therefore bagged the best viewing slot in the house armed with my welcome card I buckled down to greet them all. As space was limited for baggage in the Merc Annie had to stay behind. Due to some baggage handling issues at Heathrow (maybe staff shortages? who knows) they were quite a while before they came through, just how wonderful was that! Whilst waiting for them I reveled in what appeared to be a reenactment of "Love Actually" as the hugs and cheers as people's loved ones came through those arrival swing doors was truly lovely #emotional Interestingly there were lots of folks who came up to look at my sign, thinking I was a taxi service #teehee After pick up we travelled back up to Sandiacre, stopping at Newport Pagnell services for a slap up "full english" breakfast with black pudding, one of their fave things that is impossible to find in Singapore #class. Got back to all greet Annie and they chilled and tried to overcome jet lag. Not easy. They decided that they didnt need an extra day to recover and were happy to travel up to Lancashire on the Saturday to greet Craig & Leanne and family who were going up first. We all kept it a surprise. During the planning of the combined family holiday we had booked a large holiday home , Hazelgrove Barn, in Laneshawbridge on a farm, made possible to get us all together as it was half term in England and the Queens 70th jubilee affording 2 days public holiday, #goodstuff For the second week whilst Craig and co returned to work and school we were travelling onto a second holiday home, again on a farm, called Curlew Cottage very near to Loch Lomond , an area we love a lot but have never really stayed in. It was so nice we may well take the campervan back there sometime, Keef has already sussed out a campsite very near to Gartocharn. The 3rd week was spent doing family stuff back home in the Sandiacre area in Nottinghamshire. The whole 3 weeks went far too quickly, but it was ALL just magical. Thanks for visiting Singapore. #biglove The total mileage in the Kia when I returned it was 786 miles. This is a Geo Map produced by Google Maps telling me where we went in those 3 weeks, it makes interesting reading. #bigbrotheriswatchingyou #smile If you would like to see all our blogs on non-motorhome family trips use this TIMELINE page, thanks for looking Return to MENU THE WHOLE FAMILY IN LANCASHIRE So we travelled up to Lancashire in both the hire car and our own car. At one point, unbeknown to Keef having put the handbrake on on a hill, a green locking button came on on the Kia which meant as I tried to move off it wouldn't and smoked like crazy, a smell we spent ages trying to remove with windows open. Very kindly Annie who was driving behind me put on her hazards. Finally got it sorted and we arrived over hill and dale at the holiday home just a Craig was going off to do the shopping in Burnley, a lovely surprise and Edie was hugely excited to meet up with Charlie when she wasn't expecting it. As you arrived in the area Hazelgrove barn was just so visible on the horizon guiding you to it. What an incredible modern property owned by Cheryl & Steve and one we booked through Hoseasons. A very nice friendly couple and a well equipped establishment with cot and stair gates and 360 degree views to die for. Perfect for a big family of 10. DIARY Day 1 Saturday 28th May 2022 - Arrival, Surprise Hallo's all around and settle in, unpack, tea, catch up and off to bed reasonably early. One thing I remember was the lovely pix of Tate hugging and kissing Ned, a pleasure (mostly) that carried on for the rest of the week. Day 2 Sunday 29th May 2022 - BBQ Sunday, tried out their brand new kit and outside decking table and chairs, the kids loved hiding in the storage box, a real hoot. Watched Forest at Wembley returning to the premiership after 23 years, a whole stack of Hellinger noise, COYRs. What a tense game which we had to watch with copious amounts of alcohol. Day 3 Monday 30th May 2022 - Day out at Thornton Hall Country Park at Thornton in Craven about 15 minutes drive away from the holiday home. We all saw and fed the animals, the girls having ice cream, bit of a playpark outside, mostly wet sadly, but both saw Dino live spectacular about T-Rex and others (fake in Charlies words) and played in the indoor kids area, Phoenix even made it up the tricky slope. We ate inside. The girls had the opportunity to dig for dinosaur eggs which they did and found treasure. A fun day out. Charlie said "its cold Grandpa" tee-hee, now how surprising is that in comparison to Singapore, G&G will be complaining of the heat at Christmas. Day 4 Tuesday 31st May 2022 - Started after mass cooked brekkie done by Doug (Yummy) of scrambled egg and avocado on toast, with Craig and Tate's usual bike ride of discovery, Tate absolutely loves it, to see the joy in his face is a wonder to behold. The girls then put on their lovely yellow dresses and did some dancing along to music provided by the ever present Alexa, ha-ha. After brekkie it was time for a walk to wear off some of the grub so Grandpa put on his walking boots and took his camera off up the gravel driveway turning left up the hill to the woodland, over slugs and sheep poo (remember those Edie) to the Trig point on the Pennine Bridleway with fab views back over the surrounding countryside. There was even picnic benches and seats up there to take those views in. Pretty soon initially Doug and family joined me then Craig and family. It was quite magical up there over the dry stone wall. In the afternoon we all drove to Burnley in the pouring rain to the Airtime play indoor shed , which all bar G&G went on. It was a nightmare to park there and in fairness had the feel of a Covid petri dish but the kids and adults loved the workout, they were so tired on return to the cottage. #exhausted Day 5 Wednesday 1st June 2022 - weather today very mixed, so a morning in and around the house, after lunch Grandpa put on his walking boots and headed off up Warley Wise lane to the Black Lane Ends Tavern, so named after the brook nearby called the Black Lane Scar. I took a few pix on route, quite windy. Had a nice pint of Tim Taylors landlord and sat outside admiring the view. It started spitting so I decided to start back but bumped into the family walking towards the pub so joining them returned for a second pint, after all it is a holiday. poor craig had mostly had to carry Edie's bike. This is the pub that C&L had eaten at on the first day before we arrived. It has a really good garden with kids play apparatus so we sat outside. There was a sausage dog some local kids had bought along that the kids were fascinated by, frankly I would not have allowed it on the apparatus but hey ho I'm an old fogie, tee-hee. Keef got the menu so we could pre order for Friday lunch , it would be busy as the 2nd day of the bank holiday for the Queen's 70th jubilee celebrations and the pub needed our orders. All were given bar Phoenix and Annie who had stayed back at the cottage. Grandpa had a major emoji failure, no idea how, but shouldn't press the phone in your pocket I would suggest #teehee Grandpa cooked a "sunday dinner" of roast pork and all the trimmings on a wednesday and Edie and Craig made the Platinum Pudding recipe for afters, and yummy it all was. Day 6 Thursday 2nd June 2022 - up early, got ready for our professional family photo shoot. Suited and booted we headed off in the 3 cars to Wycoller country park where Leanne had arranged to meet the photographer. After one false start the Kia and Merc duly arrived at the Atom panopticon car park and introduced ourselves to Steve the photographer from Preston. After some frantic phone calls C&L who had visited many of the country park's car parks (teehee) arrived and we were ready. The shoot took about 45 minutes in total, a lovely view from here, twas a little nippy but one and all enjoyed it and picking the dandelion clocks was a big hit for the grand children. See photoshoot below, click here if you prefer. Having said our goodbyes to Steve and huge thanks to Leanne for arranging we all headed off into Colne, a place many of us had already visited to do our shopping in Sainsburys. We all managed to park in the sideroad near Sainsbo's. Walked back into town and enjoyed the wonderful Queen's jubilee celebrations that were going on, music at the church, fun fair rides, face painting, balloon animals, circus demonstrations, clog dancing and the girls getting a donkey ride and all free , or mostly. Candy floss was consumed and then dumped, just far too sugary. D&P liked the look of a table in a closed antiques store, indeed they tried for a few days to get but eventually gave up. Craig & I even answered a church survey on the reasons for their dwindling congregation, feeling full of the spirit of Jubilee times. #kind On the way back Keef called in at the pub to let them know Annie & Phoenix's order and the final decision for the kids, we were now fully booked up for our meal tomorrow. In the evening Craig & Leanne kindly added Charlie and Alfie to their child caring repertoire and Doug & Phoenix kindly took us oldies out to the White Swan at Fence, near Burnley for a lovely Michelin starred meal, now how lovely was that. There are many pix of the fine food and probably worth viewing then alongside the White Swan menu. We returned quite late after driving into empty petrol forecourts in Colne, closed we had forgotten because it was a 2 day bank holiday. Petrol & Diesel prices have risen sharply. Day 7 Friday 3rd June 2022 - weather changeable, we all walked down to the pub at the end of the road, takes about 30 minutes, ready for our prebooked meal at 12 noon. G&G set off first as a little slow these days, the others soon caught us up. Our reserved table in the corner was right next to a roaring fire with no windows open, just too hot really, maybe this is where I caught Covid BA5 but who knows, anyhow it was a very nice meal and time and the sticky toffee pudding with custard for after's was too die for. The girls did colouring at the table pre food. Edie had got her socks wet in puddles on the way up but they soon dried in front of the fire. Post dinner we went out into the garden and the kids played on the swings etc. for quite a while. Ned loved the numerous cars. On the walk back we spied a lovely red admiral butterfly on the dry stone wall in the sun. A very pleasant amble back. C&L had gone ahead to get Tate to sleep so Edie came with us as had wanted to play on the swings with Charlie, I love the way they get on so well. In the afternoon we started the packing , boo hiss, this week was going far too quickly. Phoenix had pre booked horse riding at Jerusalem farm just down the road for the girls. Steve the owner had suggested it as an option on the first day we arrived, inspired by their Colne donkey riding they were both looking forward to it, it was an hour session and the lady doing it was very good at instructing them, there was one girl there who had been doing it every Friday since the age of 3, unaccompanied she looked a dead cert for a future Olympic gold in Dressage. Day 8 Saturday 4th June 2022 - sadly very wet and windy this morning, glad we had done some of the car packing yesterday evening. Got the final packing done. Said our fond farewells to Craig, Leanne, Edie & Tate and set out on what was to become a mammoth journey to Scotland, click HERE to read on Local Map Here are the slideshows and talkies videos capturing our wonderful family time in Lancashire Highlights slideshow day by day The full slideshow of some 444 images taken at Hazelgrove barn and surrounding areas The Talkies Return to MENU PHOTOSHOOT AT WYCOLLER COUNTRY PARK We got up early to go off to the country park for a family photoshoot Leanne had kindly arranged with a professional photographer, Steve from Preston. We arrived after getting minorly lost at the Pendle Atom in the Wycoller Country Park , Laneshawbridge entrance but Craig & Leanne took a little longer as unbeknown to us there were quite a few car parks in the area. Eventually they arrived and we were able to get on with the shoot which was fun controlling the little ones, ha-ha. Steve was a nice chap, the Atom was a little graffitied sadly and surprisingly the skies on some of his pix were missing / very faded, maybe that was on purpose, who knows but I have manipulated some of them with photoshop / photo studio 12. Hopefully it has made an improvement. Here is the slideshow of that Photoshoot plus a little bit on the Pendle Atom, set in just fab countryside and an area we have never visited before. The Pendle Atom. Pendle’s Panopticon, Atom, rests on the hillside above Wycoller village in Wycoller Country Park. Constructed in ferro-cement with a surface coating of metal-based paint, it is both a striking contemporary viewing point and shelter from which to enjoy Pendle’s glorious scenery, and an intriguing and beautiful object which can be viewed from afar. From inside, its circular viewing spaces frame spectacular views of the surrounding countryside, and an initially hidden, polished steel ball reflects back those views to the visitor. Wycoller is a historic settlement dating back beyond 1000BC. It has close links with the Brontes, and Charlotte is thought to have been a frequent visitor. In 1973 the village was declared a conservation area and the surrounding 350 acres of farmland were designated a Country Park. Wycoller has several unusual architectural features, including seven small bridges that cross Wycoller Beck, and an 18th-century five-aisled barn, now converted into a visitor centre. Return to MENU US AND THE SINGAPORE HELLINGERS AT LOCH LOMOND, SCOTLAND Overall the weather was good for the first 4 days then it took a turn for the worse, eventually forcing us to leave on the Saturday in howling gales and strong rainstorms, which didnt stop until we got to the English Borders on the M74 heading towards Carlisle. We stayed in Curlew Cottage on East Cambusmoon Farm owned by Deborah & Steve who were very friendly and helpful. She was from Surrey he from Yorkshire and had been there since 2006 buying the farm as a derelict concern and doing it up, wonderfully well. They had a small holding we looked out onto with a few sheep, one brown sort a rare breed. The shed next to us when wet was the sheep's refuge, what wimpy sheep #haha They also had a vegetable garden with some lovely apple trees, fruits and flowers, including some lovely pink ornamental poppies which Keef discussed with Steve. In the orchard bit of it where the hens, which Charlie & Alfie loved going to and feeding them. We kept all our food scraps for them in a container provided, with 2 holiday cottages on site they must have been the best fed hens in the neighbourhood. The flap on the hen house we would lift in the morning to see what the girls had laid, indeed on one occasion we caught on of the black hens just laying. So nice to be on a farm in a great location for the grandkids. The trampoline in the shed and slides etc. on site were well used , it was fun watching Doug and Phoenix also bouncing from my self isolation in the bedroom, I got a good view of the trampoline. Charlie was very good at it. On the wall was a quote from the Scottish Bard, Rabbie Burns and a good one it was too. Also tribute to Charles Rennie Mackintosh and surprisingly Mick Jagger. DIARY DAY 1 (and 8 for Lancashire Diary) Saturday 4th June 2022 - Having left Lancashire it took us about 2 hours to get across to the M6 in the Lake District. We stopped at Skipton at the Tesco's fuel station to fill up both cars for the long journey. By now it had finally stopped raining. We then initially stopped at a café on route to the M6 for everyone to have a comfort break but despite the sign saying open it was closed at a bank holiday. We then got caught behind a tractor for miles cross country, well Annie who was driving the merc did, Keef drove slowly in front of the tractor so as not to lose her. Finally crossed into Scotland on the M6 near Gretna Green, the motorway then turning into the M74. Charlie was suffering immeasurable pain due to ear ache and infection. We stopped then at a service station called Annandale Waters on the M74 which had a lovely lake to walk around. We all lunched, us on Cornish Pasties, the others on other beverages and food although poor Charlie was in no state to eat she cried endlessly as Phoenix tried in vain to comfort her, poor Charlie. After spending quite a while at the services we decided to visit a pharmacist in nearby town of Moffat to get medical help. The guy examined Charlie as best he could and prescribed ibuprofen and kiddie paracetamol to alleviate in part her pain. It worked for a bit. He also told us to ring 111 if it got worse and / or there was discharge from the ear. We crossed the Erskine bridge and were in familiar territory, Dumbarton, then through Alexandria onto the village of Gartocharn and turning into Dunchryne Road with its playpark on the left hand side. Initially we missed the East Cambusmoon Farm sign as only in one direction and hidden in the hedge. Also a coach was coming down the very narrow road, weird. So we both pulled into the car park by our Curlew cottage, exhausted but pleased to arrive and get unpacked and settled in a nurse Charlie. The journey was listed as 3 hours 40 mins, it took us 3 times as long for obvious reasons. Keef and Annie popped out into Alexandria to get fish and chip suppers for everyone, it had been a massive journey and we were all too tired to cook. D&P eventually managed o settle the kids especially Charlie but she did not have a good night. DAY 2 Sunday 5th June 2022 - As there had been discharge from Charlies ear overnight Keef rang NHS 111 to get help. A nice lady Kimberly eventually helped but the phone reception was so poor on the farm that any slight movement of ones head wiped out the call. Anyhow after numerous failed attempts Keef talked to a doctor, strong Glaswegian accent a nd tricky to understand BUT we got Charlie into the Vale of Leven hospital in Alexandria for an emergency appointment at 11 am. Keef , Doug and Charlie drove there and saw a very nice lady doctor wo was very gentle, caring and informative. She gave us one jar of penicillin and a prescription to get a second the next day, they only having limited supplies at the hospital. It started to work its magic as anti-biotics often do fairly quickly and soon Charlie was eating again and looking much more like her normal self, thank heavens, poor girls, ear ache is awful. We all had a bit of a look around the area and whilst Charlie slept it off , looked after by Granny the rest of us went out in the hire car to the Loch Lomond shores area in Balloch and went to what in the end was a disappointing farmers market. Nice views and sunshine however. We bought some black pudding, pies and scones. Keef cooked an evening meal using pies etc. from the farmers market and left over veg from the previous cottage we had bought with us. DAY 3 Monday 6th June - Day out in Glasgow, Charlie now fine. Up early we drove into Balloch and parked for free near the station, interestingly all car parks in this beauty spot area are free, why can't England do the same I wonder? We bought return train tickets into Glasgow Queen Street station for everyone , except Ned of course, he is too young. Granny & Grandpa couldn't get concessions without a ScotRail seniors card, and our State bus passes only work in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, NOT Scotland, weird I would venture! Nice train, the kids enjoyed the journey which stopped at most stations on the way into Glasgow. Grandpa teased / amused Charlie with lots of strange Scottish anecdotes mostly centered around the town names... Singer / Drum-somewhere/ Bowling, Auch Eye The Noo-dle. Queen Street is very convenient for George Square. We all used the loo's first (50p what a rip-off!) The Hop On Hop Off bus had changed location around George Square since we last visited due to some road works and segregating the area right next to the station so we walked down to where stop 1 now is. The nice lady gave Annie & I concessions based on our Reykjavík tickets and the rest a discounted Family ticket so win-win. We hopped on the bus all of us bar Granny upstairs in the sheltered bit at the front, just in case but in fairness it was a very dry and hot day, even if Charlie felt cold #smile We then took the bus trip around through all the sights including Billy Connolly murals, Glickman's the oldest sweet shop in Glasgow, People's Park, That pub where women were only allowed from the late 70s (dreadful!) , the fabulous Kelvingrove museum and a whole lot more taking about 1 hour 20 minutes getting off at stop 19. Annie and I have now done the bus tour 3 times, but it was so nice to share what we both feel is our fave small city in the UK (well currently in the UK but who knows going forward!). Although we passed the Clyde side Distillery we didn't stop as Doug had other plans for later in the week whiskey wise. Stop 19, we walked up to the Willow Tea Rooms where Keef had booked us all in for a special tea, not the Mad Hatter's Tea party this time but a special service and creation for the Queen's 70th Jubilee including a little cake version of the Platinum Pudding Craig had made on Wednesday 1st June. It was all so nice, Doug had the Islay whiskey version, and we had our lovely French Earl Grey Tea. We couldn't manage all the somewhat sickly ice cakes so asked for a doggie box to take them away, G&G tried later on in the evening to eat them but just too sugary so chucked them away. The willow tea rooms are Charles Rennie Mackintosh inspired, we both love his work and the art work from his wife Margaret. Maybe take a look via the links, you won't be disappointed. Interestingly we started with sausage roll, gourmet ones, seemed to have been a theme of this holiday, we will never go into Greggs again to avoid disappointment. After the tea rooms we decided to walk back to Charing Cross and saw the lovely old preserved tenement block, after that we thought we would have time to make it up to the Kelvingrove but it was hot and the children (and oldies) were getting tired so we stopped at Kelvin park's kids playground to let them have some fun. We decided after that we were running out of time so started walking back along Royal Circus (such fab buildings, always reminds me of Bath). The very kind Hop On Hop Off bus driver we had had in the morning recognised us and stopped to let us on mid stops. We then got off at the Royal Opera house area and walked up to the Hard Rock Café for tea, Charlie kindly bought Grandpa a T-shirt. Granny noted I had already got one from a previous visit tee-hee. Charlie fell to sleep in her pasta poor girl, still partly recovering we suspected. Anyhow after the meal we hailed a passing Glaswegian couple with baby and asked them the way to Queen Street station. Amusingly they pointed, we tourists were right next to it. Caught the train back to Balloch got back in our cars and arrived tired and happy back at Curlew Cottage, a fun day out, I think everyone enjoyed their City break, we so love Glasgow. DAY 4 Tuesday 7th June 2022 Not Keef's best day sadly. Family fed the chickens in the morning. The decision was to go in the afternoon to Luss (a fab place Annie and I stopped at on our earlier trip to Scotland, Blog 177) on the edge of Loch Lomond. Doug had arranged to hire some bikes for them. Keef felt unwell and retired to bed for an hour before lunch. We then drove in both cars to Luss where Doug had booked us into the Village Rest for lunch, Keef paid to park them in the long stay car park, it was a short walk to the café, all had dinner except Keef who had a coffee, I felt awful, and it was very hot today. After lunch we walked down to the water's edge by the pier, what fab views over the loch. The bike hire lady kitted them all out, they only had a couple of hours I think. Anyhow off they went for a fab ride on the loch edge pathway, i think they all had a great time. G&G walked back to the cars. Keef just slept all day whilst waiting for their return, luckily the windows were open as at this stage I didn't know I had Covid. After this we went back to the cottage, Keef went straight to bed at 5pm and slept right thru basically being asleep for 24 hours. They had tea which was the BBQ (a lot to chose from in the shed) and played games etc. DAY 5 Wednesday 8th June 2022 Keef isolating all day. Not a great day weather wise either. Doug & Phoenix went shopping at the Aldi in Alexandria and had a bit of a look around, Keef had very high fever and therefore slept a lot of the day. Annie did some crochet and reading but it was hacking it down with rain outside, Singapore's cooked a nice meal in the evening. The kids watched some TV and played games, Granny played a lot of games with Charlie. What you might call sadly a bit of a washed out day DAY 6 Thursday 9th June 2022 All up and having breakfast, Keef still isolating in the back bedroom, Annie camped in the spare room with single beds downstairs as an obvious precaution. Doug & Phoenix and Ned in a cot in the bedroom to the left up the stairs, Charlie the bedroom to the right. We had fixed up one of the 2 transported stair gates at the top of the stairs, a good safety measure for Ned, although he just loves going up and down stairs , with a little supervision. Cot wise although the cottage provided one, it was very heavy and as Ned already used to the travel one we transported we put that up for him. After breakfast Doug and family took the Mercedes over to the Renton area for Charlie's private horse riding lesson, something she loves, and this lady was a very good one on one instructor, she even had Charlie doing some show jumping admittedly over very low fences. Charlie told us all about it when she returned. After that they went on for the Whiskey tour in Old Kilpatrick, the Auchentoshan Distillery in Dalmuir area of Clydesbank. The journey in total distance from the cottage is about 30 minutes and 15 miles so reasonably close. Even though they had paid for me and explained I had Covid they couldn't get the fee for me back, not good, so they took all the free samples which when I was a little better back in Sandiacre I shared with Doug whilst watching England footy on the telly. Overall whilst the found the tour informative, Doug was not impressed with their whiskeys. Since he ordered 2 bottles via Amazon, one the whiskey of the year 2022 to take back to Singapore. Whilst they were out, Annie being negative and Keef wearing his mask, we both went out for a lovely local walk up the hill by the roads, so nice to get out into the fresh air, some lovely views, saw the ploughed fields close up and lots of wild flowers and pollinators on the road edges. It was quite steep up to the top parallel with the woods. On the way down Keef went into the woodland path entrance mentioned in the cottage blurb, owned by locals, and a woodland path walk up to the top lined with, wait for it, flower pot men, hidden in bushes , up trees, ha-ha, made of course of old flower pots the locals have a good sense of humour and it would keep kids amused for hours trying to find them. All in all a nice walk. We had cheese and bikkies outside for lunch until it drizzled and we had to rush inside, which meant reapplying the mask, itchy or what? #safe After lunch Keef took the hire car out to explore further on from where we had walked up the hill. Windows open, lots of very small farm tracks to basically nowhere along initially Dunchryne Road then past Caldarvan Station (out in the middle of nowhere) past equestrian centers towards Croftamie but turning back along the old school road and back out onto the old Military Road (A811) at Buchanan, part of the Loch Lomond National Park, lovely, with both a riding stables , RSPV bird sanctuary and interestingly a campsite for motorhomes, which if Annie and I come back we would stay at, a lovely area, so a good reckie and it got me out of the house. Doug cooked in the evening, Annie always bought my meals into the back bedroom so I could keep apart from the rest of the family #boo DAY 7 Friday 10th June 2022 After breakfast took both cars into Balloch and parked in the central free car park by the play park. Walked down to the Sweeney cruise ships office where Keef got tickets for all bar himself, masked up it was still far to risky. The family went on the lovely cruise trip on Loch Lomond and took lots of pictures, Charlie as well, G&G had bought both girls a digital camera to use on the holiday. As the trip was for an hour Keef went off and filled up with fuel, Doug had done the Merc yesterday. I also called into Aldi to get some provisions and stopped on the way back to Balloch at that lovely old Victorian façade opposite the Vale of Leven hospital, where we had taken Charlie , in Alexandria to take some pix, now derelict but what an amazing building, must have a preservation order on it. At Balloch I strolled around a took at lot of pictures, eventually filming their boat coming back in. I then strolled along passed Balloch house to meet them. We then went back to the playpark by the cars for the kids to have some fun times, dinosaur eggs, aerial runways and lots of rustic apparatus to play on #fun After that we returned to the cottage, lunch, feeding the chickens one last time, trampolining, Keef isolating in the back bedroom watching , then sadly packing, time had flown by. We got quite a lot of the boots packed, thank heavens and tomorrow morning for last minute stuff it was hacking it down with rain. DAY 8 Saturday 11th June 2022 Packed up the rest of the remaining stuff , Phoenix was kindly taking the risk of travelling back with me in the hire car, we both wore masks to lessen the risk of transmission. The kids , Doug & Annie in the Merc. Doug driving the first part. We set off in pouring rain across the Erskine Bridge in convoy, passed Bowling (tee-hee) and all the other train stops on route we had discovered on our way into Glasgow. Joining the M74 thru Glasgow outskirts and on to initially Cairn Lodge services just off M74 near Douglas, a farmers market services, we had been to before , for coffee, comfort break and breakfast snacks, I had a yummy homemade cheese and onion version of a scotch pie. Stopped for about 50 minutes then it was on in the still rain to the TeBay Farmshop and Kitchen services for lunch, not actually the one I was thinking of which was Killington Lake , but equally as good. Keef ate separately, all very nice food, quite crowded. After lunch Annie and I went for a walk around its small lake and looked in at the family eating. I pretended to Charlie that the loch ness monster was in the lake but sharp girl, she was not fooled #ohgrandpa We stayed outside and waited for them to finish and go to the farm shop where Doug bought Scottish Strawberries, and some black pudding slices to take back to Singapore. After that we headed back down the M6 , a very long journey, but much quicker than on the way up for obvious reasons #poorcharlie Doug drove as far as the services before junction 15 , the Stoke turn off where Annie took over. As P & I were so much in front by then (and had no house keys) we went on through Stoke and back to Asda in Long Eaton to get fuel and some food shopping and gifts for their friends back home, some trad English stuff. By the time we got back to Sandiacre they had arrived and unpacked. I unpacked the KIA ready to return the next day. Exhausted we had a simple tea (pizza if memory serves me right) and all off to bed, so glad we went to Scotland, despite my limiting Covid it was family fun. I was still testing positive every day. The journey back was about 350 miles. Local Map Here are the slideshows and talkies videos capturing our wonderful family time in Scotland Firstly a highlights slideshow with music and images with text, allowing 5 seconds for each image so you can fully take it in. Next the full image slideshow showing all 455 images And finally the Talkies video with us in full voice. PANORAMAS Return to MENU A WEEK BACK AND AROUND SANDIACRE, NOTTINGHAM Having done the long days travelling back in the 2 cars (ours and the hired Kia Sportage - what a Yuk car, certainly would not recommend) from Loch Lomond, was pouring in Scotland as we did our final loading up, so glad we had packed the boots mostly in the dry the night before. We arrived home to spent a further week here with Doug, Phoenix, Charlie & Ned as well as meeting up with the Swannington Hellingers. Early Sunday morning we returned the hire car back to Europcar, not surprisingly after the multi event fiasco on picking it up (3 journeys - they didn't recognise my old style UK driving license and I needed passport rather than photo id) the lady was late... should have been there at 9am didn't arrive until 10 am, Grrr The main highlights were lunch at the Priory Loughborough on Sunday (minus Keef & Phoenix) plus a very warm and sunny day out at East Leake's Manor Farm plus Strawberry picking at Wymeswold and a last supper for the Singapore Hellingers on Friday evening of pulled pork, jackets and salad followed by those lovely strawberries and ice cream , prior to Saturday's trip back down to Heathrow, which took quite a while but we all had to leave early as Keef needed to be back in Nottingham for the multi rescheduled Yes "Close to the Edge" concert with pal Neil S at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham. Luckily their plane left on time, a long journey home but oh so glad we were all able to spent time together after 3 years of pandemic and create some lovely memories to share. Here are some summary slideshows of that final shared week, both images with music and the talkies. #enjoy Firstly highlights with text and Bryan Adams Secondly all the images from week 3's fun Finally for week 3 all the talkie videos merged into one, ace stuff. #talkies #noisy So that covers both the images and talkies taken during week 3 of the fab Singapore Hellinger's visit #lovelytimes Return to MENU OMICRON, BA5 - NOT NICE 😷 This wrecked my 3 weeks, who knows where I got it from but if you trace back 5 days from when I first tested positive, it was either the Queens Jubilee day at Colne (unlikely as outside), the posh 1 star Michelin meal Doug & Phoenix kindly treated us to at Fence, near Burnley , or the Black Lane Ends pub (with roaring fire in summer, no windows open) or most likely in my humble opinion, the COVID petri dish that was the kids indoor air play area in Burnley , but with all these things who knows and does it really matter, the one thing I do know is that from the Tuesday of the 2nd week when I slept for 24 hours , had a very red raw sore throat, hacking uncontrollable cough, and huge fever that then returned for a further 2 other days with huge high fever that it was COVID and I would not recommend it for even my worst enemy. It meant I self isolated for nearly all the week in Scotland in the back bedroom and have become an expert in full time mask wearing, those NHS cotton ones are so itchy but I desperately did not want any of the rest of my family to get it, luckily they didn't. Even Annie who sat with me in the car on that Tuesday at the wonderful Luss whilst they all went bike riding around Loch Lomond shores. I have included a video diary I took to record these sad events , the real cons being that after waiting 3 years because of the ghastly pandemic to see my lovely Singapore Hellinger family that was pretty limited in terms of emotional cuddles of my grand kids #boo This is my sad COVID video diary Yippee Day 19 - Finally free of this ghastly virus, would truly like not to get it again but as a silent infector that is difficult to ensure Return to MENU AUDIOBOOK Return to MENU SCOTTISH TRAVEL BLOG ROUTES Return to Menu RETRO SCOTTISH FAMILY TRAVELS utubeo videos recreated in a more modern way in 2023 Return to Menu THAT'S ALL FOLKS

by keef & annie hellinger 16 May 2022, 6.23 a.m. Motorhome trip No50 : May 13th- 15th 2022 NOTTS->Waterclose Meadows Campsite, Houghton Mill, Cambridgeshire ->NOTTS 187 miles A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog MENU Intro Panorama's A Selection of Pictures Full Slideshow Diary Audio Diary End Tags etc Intro This was our third trip to Houghton & Wyton staying at the National Trust's Waterclose Meadows campsite positioned right next to the River Ouse, Cambridgeshire and the still working flour mill aptly named Houghton Mill, indeed on the last day I finally saw it working, which was the first time in the 3 trips we have made there with our wonderful friends Pete & Joy. Rather alarmingly I saw a young lad in his small inflatable canoe being drawn ever closer to the waterwheel by its current with his granddad working hard in his somewhat larger canoe with his oar motioning the kid back from the current, luckily all danger was halted. Bit worrying though especially as the NT posted warnings said no canoeing or paddle boarding whilst the wheel was in motion, for obvious reasons. Just want to bank the drum once again to say this is our 50th trip in our lovely motorhome affectionately known as the "Wendy House", that is quite a landmark and as I said in Blog 180 means in our motorhome we have now effectively travelled to Sydney Australia, back home again and back out to Sydney, that's some use of the van, we will never sell it we love it. Return to Menu Panorama's Return to Menu Top Pix Return to Menu Slideshow Return to Menu Diary What is it they say, more than 270 years camping experience around the table for this group of friends but we are still loving it and especially if you get such good weather as we did, suntan lotion, shorts, beer, wine and good food all cooked outside (well mostly apart from brekkies) what more could friends want? This was our third visit to Houghton Mill with our dear pals Pete and Joy. The previous visits were in 2018 and 2017 (blogs 127 and 119 respectively) so because of the pandemic and various other things it was almost exactly 4 years to the weekend that we were last here, we did manage our usual yearly camping jaunt with Pete and Joy in 2021 however when we returned to the Bulwick site in Northamptonshire (Blog 156) Friday 13th May 2022 Pete and Joy arrived before us about 1 pm, we knew we would be late as Keef had to take pals Laurence and Yvonne back to their campsite at Castleton in the peak district first thing in the morning however, we still managed to arrive by just after 3 p.m. having packed final stuff, food etc before travelling. We were on grass pitches 21 & 20. The grass pitches had increased in price from £23 per night to £35 per night which over 4 years is a 57% increase which feels massive, but I believe the site has moved from private hands into being owned and maintained by the National Trust themselves which might explain it, but then again may not, who knows, all campsites since the pandemic and increase in energy costs have had to raise their prices. After arriving and being greeted by the friendly NT staff we drove around to the motorhome service point where we filled up with water and were greeted by Pete who strolled up to meet us, so nice to see them both again. The site was very busy and whilst the one amenities block is good with 4 loos and 3 showers and a dish washing area plus chemical waste disposal (note no privacy wash sinks) is probably not enough for a weekend such as this, indeed on the Saturday when I went into the Gents every amenity was full, but when you are on hols you don’t mind the wait #justsayin #hintsandtips Pete and Joy had been down to town for a drink in the Three Horseshoes, a very nice pub we have sat in the garden in the sunshine before as well as having a nice pub meal inside when the weather was more inclement. Anyhow after we had set up we put out the table and chairs and had a lovely catch up, such fun #chinwag For the evening meal Pete used the BBQ and we had some lovely chicken kebabs Greek style with salad and pita, followed by Greek yoghurt, with pistachios and honey plus if you preferred and I did the traditional cheese and bikkie feast with the lovely Black bomber Joy had managed to get, note to self, look up where I can buy this from Snowdonia cheese locally. All very yummy washed down with some alcoholic beverages obviously, tee-hee Saturday 14th May 2022 We slept well that night, must have been all the fresh air. Didn’t get up until about 9. Pete and Joy were already out in the sun so took our table and chairs around to join them. Had a lovely leisurely breakfast that Joy did of scrambled egg and smoked salmon with toast, marmalade, tea, and coffee, yummy. Then after reading, relaxing etc we set off for a nice leisurely walk to the Axe and Compass in Hemingford Abbots, walking through the Mill itself coming out by the mechanical lock (you don’t see many like this) and then across the beautiful fields that once were used for grazing cows but now had a mass of wild flowers in full bloom, looked just like a Monet painting in the sunshine, buttercups and purple clover. Just magical #blooms We then crossed the bridge over yet another tributary of the Ouse into the posh area of Hemingford Abbots watching a man doing stand-up paddle near the Boathouse dwelling which had its own electrics to hook up a boat, rather like you would a motorhome on a campsite. It was then along meadow lane with some fab huge houses, small cottages with immaculate cottage gardens and the old schoolhouse with its new thatching but sadly scaffolding obscuring its immaculate visage, I remember it from before. Many of the houses are thatched. Then it was turn left past St Margaret’s church with posters supporting Ukraine (too right!) and onto the Axe and Compass pub which we have eaten in before. A lovely place, went out into the beer garden, found some shade for the ladies and had a few bevvies and nice assorted paninis and a lot of chat, #fun #sunshine #sunburn #regulo9 After that we strolled back to the site picking up an ice cream on route. In the evening Keef cooked halloumi burgers on the teppanyaki outside which we had with salad and warmed French stick, followed by salted caramel cheesecake for those that wanted it and the traditional cheese and biscuits and of course a few good bottles of wine, what an evening. As the temperature dipped we retired inside P&J’s Bailey and continued until we could no longer keep our eyes open, Keef had been up at 4.10 am on the Friday and it was all catching up on me. Sunday 15th May 2022 All up a bit earlier today, there had been rain during the night so not quite so nice, Keef did croissants and / or cheese and bikkies for brekkie in our van , a bit of a squeeze with both tables up but eminently doable. After this we all chilled until about 12.15 reading papers, books, kindles, and phones. Joy had kindly paid for an extension for both of us to stay on site until 4 p.m. just s we could park the vans there as nowhere in Houghton nor were we allowed in the NT car park. Keef went for a stroll along the tow path to take some snaps as well. We had both mostly packed up before we walked back into Houghton and the Jolly Butchers pub at the far end of town left from the town square for Sunday lunch, all tables in the garden were taken as the sun had now come out again. There was quite a delay on the meal, but they kindly gave us complimentary breads, oils and olives as a starter to keep us quiet, good stuff , it worked he-he. Huge dinners we couldn’t manage the sticky toffee puds sadly, he-he. After that we strolled back to the site said our goodbyes, K&A did dunny man and rubbish and final pack up and then travelled back home, we got back soon after 4, P&J a little later due to some traffic hold ups on the M11. All in all, a very pleasant weekend. After 3 trips now to Houghton we probably won’t return but it’s a nice place made much more special as we shared it with our old pals. Return to Menu Audio Diary Return to Menu That's All Folks

by keef & annie hellinger 6 May 2022, 5.53 a.m. MENU Intro Image with Stats Mileage New page about our Wendy House Trips Tags, Comments etc INTRO You know what I'm like with numbers, just can't help myself, got 'em running around in my head #insomnia #upearly So I thought I would spreadsheet (is that a verb?) 😉the trips we have made so far in our lovely Volkswagen Autosleeper Clubman Anniversary motorhome in the 10 years we have had it. We will of course be keeping it forever despite the many offers we have had, all exceeding the money we paid for it. Indeed two guys (somewhat dodgy in my humble opinion but what am I like at judging character? ) called yesterday asking if I want to sell... I didn't quite say "go forth and multiply" 😉 but I was close. That makes 4 people this month who have tried to make a doorstep purchase. It's in our very humble opinion a classic. Motorhomes as I keep saying partly because of the pandemic are in much demand at the moment. Also I suggest upping your security, that demand level means it like trading in the black diamonds market! #hintsandtips Security cameras, steering locks, both wheel and gear lever, level 1 alarm systems, i've even now got a motorbike chain (seriously heavy) around the drivers seat and the steering wheel, locking the seat forward and unmovable so even if broken into it would be serious hard to drive without I guess resorting to an industrial angle grinder, which hopefully we or someone else would hear whatever time of the day or night. Anyhow I'm just saying you can't be too careful of your prized motorhome #secirityhints MILEAGE Whilst constructing this table of all our trips in the Wendy House motorhome I noted down the mileage just so I could tot it up, so far. The total so far is 34,958 miles on those 49 trips, that is the distance from our home to Sydney Australia, back home again and THEN back to Sydney, Australia. WOW is all I can say, that is some distance and so far, touch wood, we have only replaced all 4 tyres once in those 10 years, they are expensive but serve us well. If you wish to read a particular Blog associated with a trip featured in this table please click HERE. ALL OUR WENDY HOUSE TRIPS I have also constructed a new page on the website which shows all of the detail about these trips in much more detail, why not have a look. Click HERE Thanks for looking THAT'S ALL FOLKS

by keef & annie hellinger 2 May 2022, 8.52 a.m. INFO UPDATE NOTE this supersedes any advice given in earlier blogs when previous Blog development tools were used. All of those blogs will be retrospectively updated to that effect and will point to this blog. From 2nd May 2022 this is the definitive method for finding what you want. SEARCH FACILITIES AVAILABLE List of Blogs Dropdowns INDEXES dropdown BLOG dropdown BIG TRIPS dropdown Hashtags The END Hope it helps you find what you want NEW PAGE We have also added a new page called LIST OF BLOGs split in 3 parts Part 1, will allow you to find the Blog by Blog number in ascending number sequence, by implication WIX forces Blogs to be displayed in reverse date addition order, which since I migrated all my blogs up to December 2021 from Moonfruit is in rather a random sequence, this addresses this issue. Part 2 on this new page shows all the blogs with just the title in post order sequence showing 50 per page, in essence a quick overview. Part 3 is an alternative yearly view of the blogs in ascending date sequence i.e from 2012 when I started the motorhome-travels blog to both document our travels plus hopefully share some of our hints and tips learnt along the way, an experience shared will hopefully stop others from making some of the mistakes we have made along the way. What's that old expression "show a person how to fish and they will learn to feed themselves"....or something like that! DROPDOWNS The INDEXES drop down By year. This will give you all Blogs assembled by year, some blogs appear in more than one year especially if they were written retrospectively. These when used give you the BIG format of blog. They are in descending year. Hit the ALTERNATIVE (read part3) button if you would like to see them in a shorter format where they are in ascending year. By Month. Short format by months of the year they were written in. Tags Descending. Arranged by how often they are used on a Blog, the number next to the tag shows you, click on one and you will see all the blogs represented by that TAG word. Tags Alphabetically. Allows you to find any tag word you may be looking for. Again the number next to the tag shows you how often they occur, click on one and you will see all the blogs represented by that TAG word. Blogs in Ascending Order. Refer to part 1 here. SEARCH & SEARCH RESULTS. Use this to search for absolutely anything on the site. Once found in the search results click on it to go directly to it, so you can read on. A-Z search facilities. All Blogs have been registered to a letter of the alphabet, some will appear under more than one letter but essentially if you are looking for something it is either the start letter or a letter that is Key to describe that blog, click on it to scroll through Blogs identified this way until you find what you want The BLOG dropdown Featured Blogs. This shows our top 6 blogs over 2 pages in descending post date order, click on any that take your fancy, it shows you how long the blog is estimated to take to read, the number of comments shared at the end of the blog, plus the number of times folk have liked it , shared the love via the like button 💕 Blog Timeline. Various ways of searching for Blogs via one in each year of construction List of Blogs. Refer to part 1 here Big Trips Timeline. Shows all our Major Trips in hired motorhomes, just click on any to view, alternatively see what we have to say under the BIG TRIPs dropdown here By UK County, some of the more visited Counties are featured. More may be added with time, just click on what takes your fancy, especially if you are visiting the UK from abroad and hiring a motorhome, this may give you some tops and/ or campsites to stay at Book of Blogs. This is taken from the old website and provides a downloadable PDF for offline reading of blogs up to and including Blog 145, created in December 2020. It may be of use, up to you. The BIG TRIPS dropdown Maps. Shows visitors from across the world to the site plus some very specific locations from our major trips Audio diaries. Listen to all our audiobooks from our major trips, saves reading the diary, by implication as electronically set up the voices are not always wonderful but that technology is getting so much better, ra-ra-ra for Hazel, George and Sue and if you like North American accents, Zak #thx4looking #thx4listening Major trips by Year. Currently from 1995 to 2017, take a look All Wendy House Trips. By May 2022 when this Blog was written we had done 48 trips in our lovely classic VW Autosleeper motorhome, affectionately know by us as just "Wendy". This shows every one of those blogs, scroll through and find one that takes you fancy. HASHTAGS #hintsandtips #search #hashtags NOTE you can use the hashtags you find anywhere on the site to click on as an alternative to TAGs , this will also show you associated Blogs That's All On Search Folks

by keef & annie hellinger 1 May 2022, 10.16 a.m. NOT A MOTORHOME TRAVEL BLOG BUT DEFINITELY BLOG RELATED *** PROUD **** To 25th June 2022 we have had an average of 19 visits per day to the site, pretty good in anyone's book #illtakeit Most of my friends and family know of my obsession with numbers and statistics, a defect I accept , but a product of my mathematical background and a lifetime as an "IT Guy" and Annie will tell you a full gadget freak, if its new technology I am there. #3fingersalute #ctlCctlV #imsorryHALicantdothat MENU Visitor Counter Table for website over time June 2022 Stats with Comparison on Visitors June 2022 Visitors by Town since start of the year June 2022 Visitors by Town for that month April 2022 Stats Counter for ALL my websites You Tube Channel Tags and Comments Witness after our time up with pals on Mull (see BLOG 177) where we were 1st introduced to FiFi the robot cleaner, that we now have one Alexa driven, tee-hee "Alexa Start Fi-Fi" Clearly we have Blink cameras focused on our motorhome as protection, in this day and age when you are proud and protective of your vehicle you can't be too careful #recommended Motorhomes are now much in demand, an adjunct of the Covid pandemic possibly and peoples desires to 1) save cost on their holidays 2) use stay-cations. Part 2 hopefully will not last too long, we would love to get back to Europe for some long trips again in our lovely Wendy House. We also have a TruckNav for the motorhome which enables us the enter its full dimensions height, width and length which means in planning our route it will avoid narrow roads and low bridges, a real plus I've always believed since my early discussions / disagreements with a boss at work who said early 80s that the "information supe highway" (now known as the internet would not happen, time for a name drop, it must be in my DNA being at skool wiv Sir Tim Berners-Lee #fact So I discovered a whole stack of clever ways of getting statistics and reports via WIX, my website creation tool to analyse my blogs and for your delight and delectation I have decided to publish them here, my guess is I will feature a month here every now and then, potentially yearly just to see how the Blogs are being received but who knows, depends on my level of Nerdyness at the time. I know for you techies a lot of this stuff is available by Google Analytics but this is in so much better presentation material, I'm impressed and that don't happen often #fact VISITOR COUNTER TABLE The above table gathered over the years from our embedded counter shows the growth in daily visitors to the site over time, evolving from infancy to where it is now. It has undergone 4 different technologies to create and maintain it #functionalityretired and various rewrites along the way. I confess to struggling to understand the 2 huge hikes in number of visitors per day apart from at the first I probably introduced and / or plugged so much more through social media and was rewriting using WIX although my own visits are allegedly excluded from this equation. Did that obliquely attract more visitors, not sure #yourspuzzled Anyhow it is my intension from now, maybe yearly to update this table. Graphically the above table translates as such, the 3 graphs are date 25th June 2022 This actually using summed totals means since inception we have had a average of 19 visits per day to the site #proud By JULY 2022 we had also had over 250+ NEW visitors to the Blog from around the world. Here is a snapshot of that but you can see up to date details on our site under the dropdown , just search for VISITORS, thanks for looking. As at March 2023 we now have a fully paid up Visitors map on 3 of my 11 web sites crafted by KeefH Web Designs, all the rest only have the free version of the Visitors map so top out at 100 last visitors but I'm not currently prepared to pay for those. RETURN TO MENU JUNE 2022 STATS I have just taken a look at the comparison of new visitors between April and June 2022. The visitor traffic map (which has been a real issue and 7 days wrestling with WIX & Names both of whom said it was NOT their responsibility - it is I pay you both, Grrr x when the map was classed by MS Edge as "unsafe content" / dangerous.... the final solution was WIX had messed up the pointer to a domain for this embedded app so now all sorted - see the commentary at the end of Blog 182 if you are interested) Anyhow .....rant over ....to the Stats comparison It should be noted that the "traffic" recognition on this map is only for entirely NEW visitors from that location , returning visitors do not count. Comparison: So, in 60 days between the 2 dates, we have had 67 NEW visitors that's just above an average of 1 per day, not bad in this lovely motorhome world #tick I've also included the overall site visitor counter from the Trailer NOTE on the visitor maps the stats if you don't pay ONLY record the last 100 unique visitors, Google Analytics or Microsoft Clarity are a much better place to look for real statistics. If you do pay and the only one, I currently do that for is motorhome-travels blog .NET you get the last 500 unique visitors. By September 22 this site had 340 unique visitors. This is 114 more than when we last checked in June, so between the 2 dates, which is 95 days. So slightly more than 1 new unique visitor per day, social media is certainly helping #proved RETURN TO MENU MORE JUNE 2022 STATS This is the map of visits by town since the start of the year, note that not all 139 towns are listed on the key, but the slideshow that follows shows all the detail #nerdy NOTE Ashburn listed here with high user count is the Data Capital of the world , want to know more, feeling Nerdy enough then click HERE This data has been gathered from Google Analytics. I have also looked at the WIX Data, not sure if they match but I would expect WIX to get their extensive site statistics directly from Google Analytics but I could be wrong. For good measure you will see following my Statistics here by town taken from the start of 2022 that I also have some statistics for the month of June taken directly from WIX and exported to Excel where maps and charts can be easily made. Let me know what you think in the comments below if you feel so inclined #overmyhead The TOP 20 town visits since the start of the year are featured in the next image, a lot of them are local attracted potentially by local posts via social media, next door app or whatever It makes interesting reading. Why Columbus Ohio is the top visitor I have no idea #puzzled RETURN TO MENU Data taken from WIX Statistics for just the month of June 2022 Here is the accompanying list of towns (with their countries attached) and visit data RETURN TO MENU APRIL 2022 STATS So here goes, these stats refer to the Month of April 2022 when there were 187 published Blogs on the site, maybe it will only have an audience of 1, i.e. ME ha-ha Details for the most visited Blog posts in descending order on motorhome-travels blog dot net for the month of April 2022, how about that #nerd #statistics #obsessed RETURN TO MENU Other WEBSITE Stats (created by KEEFH WEB DESIGNs) RETURN TO MENU YOU TUBE CHANNEL 1.Statistics as of 20th September 2022 for Keef's You Tube Channel, 16 subscribers, 913 videos, 23.6k views, 480.1 hours watched (Created to match date of Top 10 below) Likes 2643 2. Statistics as of 2nd September 2022 for Keef's You Tube Channel, 16 subscribers, 908 videos, 23.1k views, 469.9 hours watched TOP 10 Channel videos I am starting to collect and create a new TOP 10 playlist roughly every year, I first did one on 10 Sept 21 but forgot to create statistics lists so for the second I have decided to record them here. There were on 20 Sept 22 8900 views of my top 10 videos. This had slightly changed both in terms of sequence of the Top 10 and adding 2 new videos created during the year since the previous September. Here are 19/9/22 image captures for prosperity If you want to know all about the KeefH Web Designs You Tube playlists then have a read of Blog 8, there are a whole stack of nerdy stats in there as well. RETURN TO MENU That's All for now folks

by keef & annie hellinger 15 April 2022, 9.51 a.m. A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog Motorhome trip No 49 : 30th March – 14th April 2022 NOTTS->The North Coast 500 route and Isle of Mull with Friends, Scotland ->NOTTS 1633 miles Use the MENU #hintsandtips time suggestion do the NC500 clockwise, that way you are always on the coastal side in wester ross and Sutherland, which in our humble opinion are the best bits scenery wise, means on single track you are not crossing the road for your photo opportunities, just a suggestion, of course it is entirely up to you! MENU Calendar Maps Campsites we stayed at Diary Slideshows Video (The Talkies) Audio Diary Scottish Travel Blog Routes Retro Scottish Family Holidays Tags & Comments If you would like to see the associated Image Slideshow please click HERE, thanks Suggestion , use the side menu to go directly to Blog 177 Calendar Go to Menu Campsites Go to Menu Maps Go to Menu Diary Feel free to use the Audio Diary if you would prefer to just listen to the audiobook or combine it with a full slideshow HERE This trip was the repeat of the one we tried last year when sadly our Motorhome cambelt snapped near Birnam – Dunkeld off the A9 past the gulf garage and opposite the Erigmore Leisure park. See Blog 152. This time we paid tribute to it as we passed but our lovely motorhome, which we had a full engine service on just before the trip passed with flying colours, up hills, and down dales or should it be glens. 😉 I had no ideal Birnam was so famous. The pretty village of Birnam lies 15 miles north of the city of Perth and sits opposite the twin town of Dunkeld, across the river Tay. The village is well known for featuring in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. You can visit Dunsinane Hill, to the south-east of the village, where the ancient Birnam Oak stands as the sole survivor of an attack by Malcolm III on Macbeth. Birnam is linked to Dunkeld by a seven-arched bridge built by Thomas Telford. The village is surrounded by lovely Perthshire countryside, especially the Hermitage, a beautiful, wooded gorge. The area inspired Beatrix Potter, who spent her childhood holidays here. She is celebrated in the Birnam Institute’s Beatrix Potter Exhibition & Garden. Anyhow to the trip. I suggest you read (or listen) to this in conjunction with the Calendar. Day 1 Having packed up the van beforehand we set off and drove the 250+ miles on the way up to Berwick Upon Tweed in Northumberland. The weather wasn’t great with rain and sleet to keep us company and lots of spray from the many lorries on the M1, M18 and A1, A1M. We stopped for lunch in the snow in Darlington. A place I had bad memories from my Boots days and EPOS of logging out prescription methadone to addicts BT and here is the good news it was actually a much nicer place than I remember. The chip shop we found was in a rather scruffy area but provided the best fish and chips I have ever had, Harry Ramsdens Leeds you are relegated. It had won northern chippie of the year 2020. Yummy. Having feasted we travelled on past where Chris’s rose cottage was in Detchant and beyond Lindisfarne to the Caravan and Motorhome club (C&MC) site at Berwick. We have stayed there before with friends. The icy winds made filling up with water not very nice, anyhow we were in for the night, warm, fed and bedded. Day2 A further 230+ miles today up to Grantown on Spey in the Cairngorms National Park. We left Berwick after a healthy breakfast, it was still incredibly cold and sleety. Packed up the van wearing my Icelandic hat and gloves, it seems they are essential on this trip, indeed overnight after the heating is off, I wore both a jumper and my hat nearly every night bar one, that will give you a measure of the cold temperatures for this trip. As an aside the motorhome Therma heater is amazing, warms the van in no time, either on electric when hooked up or gas for wild camping #hintsandtips So after Berwick we used the A1 up as far as Burnmouth having stopped for photos as we crossed the border into Scotland, touristy I know but you have just gotta do it, we then turned off onto the A1107 or the Eyemouth coastal path. We loved Eyemouth both the harbour and the town centre and beach. We had a look at each which you can see in the picture show. Having left this coastal loop we came back to the A1 and left again on the scenic coastal route, the A1087, to Dunbar. When Keef was a child living at 10 Lessar Clapham the Scottish family living upstairs where named Dunbar, not sure they came from there though, sadly mum can no longer tell me. #sigh It is worth noting we travelled passed the Belhaven brewery but didn’t stop. Dunbar Highstreet we stopped in, this also contains the birth place and museum of John Muir, OK confession time, I had to look him up as well #smile Naturalist and Preservationist, but big in Dunbar by all accounts, apologies to friends of John Muir. After our Dunbar visit, we re-joined the A1 bypassing Edinburgh as best we could and crossed the 4th road bridge at Queensferry, I remember in my 20’s South and North Queensferry having a ferry crossing available for the Firth of Forth, a very distant memory. It was then on through Fife and turning off to visit Loch Leven at the Kinross turnoff. We parked up for a walk, the sun came out and sadly so did a few early midges, out damn spot! Annie remembers visiting here with her parents and them taking the hire boat out on the loch to visit the castle prison where Mary Queen of Scots was held but Anne’s Mum freaking out when the motor cut out, suck memories not. We had a good look around a very nice spot. We then headed past Birnam turnoff where the van conked out last time and onto Blair Atholl, a lovely place, stopped near the heritage area with its wood carvings, old bridge and post office, a bit of sun and a few people picnicking. Irn Bru and fish suppers. Keef took pictures of the River Tilt. We then hit some snow, pretty strong through the Grampians and the Cairngorms National Park arriving at Aviemore a tourist mecca we had never been to before, quite liked the place, especially the Strathspey steam railway station and the views of the snow-covered Grampians Boy it was cold and snowy. We saw the train being readied for the season as we left Grantown the next day outside Aviemore. We then went onto our campsite at Grantown on Spey just outside the main town, a lovely site and a very helpful warden on his Golf buggy greeted us. Set up for the night, it then started snowing quite heavily, a little worrying. Kept the heating on for quite a bit. Had our usual day 2 lasagne and garlic bread supper with strawberry yoghurt pudding, delicious. Then to bed we start the NC 500 tomorrow snow allowing. Day 3 Nice and sunny this morning which meant the snow dump we had had overnight melted quickly. When we first work and drew back the roof light the snow – ice crystals that met us were fascinating to watch from the comfort of our beds as it melted. After breakfast we parked up in Grantown on Spey near the kilt shop and walked from one end of town to the other. What a lovely place it is, with some very interesting buildings and gardens. We liked it so much we have decided in the future we will come back to this area and probably stay at the same site. It is a Caravan and Motorhome club affiliated site which means a discount is applied when you show your club card #hintsandtips We took a drive out in search of the River Spey but could not find it so returned to Grantown and started heading off to Inverness to start the North Coast 500, allegedly 500 miles hence the name but from our Odometer a bit more that that at 550 miles and we left out the steep climb over to Applecross via the Bealach Na Ba Road (Battle of the Cattle). So glad we did miss this bit out as it was snowing and it said NO MOTORHOMES 😉 We did indeed cross the Spey on quite a few occasions on our route. We travelled to the City of Inverness, then Beauly to see the town, trees, priory and Shinty ground, must look up what that is, if interested look HERE. We passed the Glen of Ord distillery but did not go in. At Marybank Keef stopped to take both his first picture of the NC 500 road signage and the wonderful old metal school gate, quite a classic. After that we joined the main A835 through Contin past the Museum of Childhood (seen one of those in Sudbury Derbyshire so didn’t stop) onto Garve where we stopped for lunch overlooking the loch. We then turned off onto the A832 past Gorstan onto Achnasheen where we stopped in front of the remote railway station. This is the Kyle of Lochalsh line from Inverness so you can join up with a ferry to Skye. Less used now the road bridge to Skye is available but we have used the Arisaig ferry and Kyle of Lochalsh ones in the past. A little about Achnasheen which we loved, the air was so fresh, the views fantastic and the oakmoss on all the trees reflected the clear air. Achnasheen Train Station is a stop on the Kyle of Lochalsh Line, serving the small village of Achnasheen. Opened in 1870, it was an important connection point for freight, mail and passenger trains travelling from parts of Wester Ross to Inverness. Today, trains from Achnasheen train station connect the village to Inverness, which can be reached in less than 90 minutes. It is a stopping point mainly for tourists and walkers who wish to visit the village or explore the surrounding area. The original Achnasheen Hotel, built soon after the station, burned down in 1994 but accommodation for visitors can be found at the Ledgowan Lodge Hotel, which is located half a mile from the station. Four trains from each direction stop here daily on weekdays and Saturdays. Sundays have one train all year round and two during the summer. The two platforms at Achnasheen station are connected by a footbridge and both have small shelters and seats. After Achnasheen we travelled through Glen Carron and on the Wester Ross coastal route past loch carron , a lovely village, very touristy where we stopped and then again on the wonderful loch Kishorn, a sea loch for many a photo opportunity. Just past Ardarroch with sleet, snow and mist in full swing we came to the start of the Bealach Na Ba Road which said no Motorhome, its possibly the steepest road in the UK. Annie convinced Keef, quite rightly that we shouldn’t do it, friends have since told us its scary enough in a car, let alone a motorhome in snow, so a good call, Keef however would love to do it one day in a car, maybe in better weather and get across the steep hills up and down to Applecross. Anyhow we took the mucg flatter single track road across to Shieldaig through the forest. We had forgot that the Torridon hotel lauded by Susan Calman, and Giles and Monica was at Shieldaig, we knew we were on the lookout for this plush hotel on the NC500, keef promising Annie via a 2nd mortgage to buy her a high tea there, sadly it didn’t happen, maybe another time. After Shieldaig it was through the Glen Torridon onto Kinlochewe and the fab loch Maree which seems endless as a freshwater loch in an area of so many sea lochs. The weather was finally beginning to clear a little making the views even more spectacular. We then went on past Victoria falls arriving at Gairloch harbour now sadly in the rain and sleet. We stopped momentarily knowing we would return tomorrow, as it was now getting late we went out along the coast road to out Sands resort campsite at Big sands for the night. Not the greatest site facilities wise but the sand dunes and views were to die for. Day 4 A nice bright but cold morning, not that we knew it at the time, but potentially the best weather of the holiday maybe bar the last day on the way back at Bolton Abbey in the North York moors, anyhow after breakfast we drove back into Gairloch, filled with diesel and Keef bought a route 500 road sign, why not you may ask. Not the tourist tat that Susan Calman is so keen on however in my defense, ha-ha. We parked up in the estate walks car park, had a look at the river Kerry from the old bridge and then crossed back over the main road to the old fishing harbour which we walked all the way along via the fabulously named sit-oot-erie, with lovely spring bulbs. Keef went to the end of the pier talking to a few deep-sea fishermen on route, mostly lobster and mussels was their catch. We called in at the little harbourside shop to buy a few things on the way back to the motorhome, we absolutely love Gairloch, what a special place. Having left Gairloch we travelled back on the A832 through the very rocky area up to Poolewe. The next bit we have done before in reverse order as we travelled anti clockwise through parts of this area on our third trip in the motorhome back in 2012 Blog 38. So we drove past Inverewe gardens which wasn’t open anyhow and stopped once again at the WW1 lookout over loch ewe. In the current climes we by passed the Russian Arctic Convoy museum, we would have done anyhow, way too boring. Tee-hee. It was then past little sea loch Broom and then stopping at Ullapool for lunch. We love Ullapool and all of Sutherland, but the huge Viking Venus cruise liner was in the port harbour ferrying lots of American tourists off the ship into port so with walking tours led by old men in kilts it was a little too busy for us, so we moved on into the somewhat more remote and relaxing Assynt. Stopping off at the old Ardvreck castle , Annie stayed in the van after reading the tourist info boards but Keef walked along the short path to the old 1490 castle, the home of the Macleod’s of Assynt. The area also had a fascinating Calda manor house c 1730 ruin with information stating it belonged t the MacKenzies of Assynt. Some of the clear reflection in loch broom were amazing and I hope I have captured that in some of my pictures. After the castle we left onto the A837 along the side of lock assynt through little Assynt and then down 5 miles at the start of the wee mad road to our campsite at Clachtoll beach, run by the amazingly helpful Tom and Andy, a glaswegian and a yorkshireman. What a nice campsite in such a nice area. They had a fire going so you could sit out under the stars, wet suits, and body boards to borrow, plus fire pits for your own BBQs. The only downside was the stupid female couple who blocked me in on entry to the site and I had to initiate a 10 point turn to get out of it in very narrow surroundings whilst they watched, grr, no effort to move or help at all oh plus despite saying we saw 2 cases of folks lighting fires on the ground when the owners clearly pointed out that that was a no-no and you could borrow their safe grates. How silly and disrespectful is that! In the eve we took a long walk down and along the beach via the boardwalks as the sun was beginning to set, just magical. Day 5 Not the greatest weather today. Packed up and left the Clachtoll beach site early which was a very sensible move considering the challenges of the Wee Mad Road. I saw a 30-foot-long trailer pulling a caravan combo which in my humble opinion was nuts. Luckily, he went in the opposite direction and did the 5 miles back so no obstacle for us. I also did not know it was a book by Jack & Barbara Maloney. Here is a simple synopsis of that book which says more than I could. Lovesick sheep, rumours of war, storms at sea, whisky galore - a midlife escape from an 'empty nest' in America to start afresh in the wilds of Scotland. When their children grow up and leave home, authors Jack and Barbara Maloney sell their house in a Midwest suburb and run off to the Highlands. Following a one-lane track called ''The Wee Mad Road,'' they discover an isolated remnant of traditional Gaelic culture, peopled by characters as unique and memorable as the surrounding mountains. The Maloney’s settle into an old stone cottage and spend two years in repeated collisions with quaint Highland ways. Entries from Barbara's diary detail the realities of village life, while Jack recounts tales of poachers, crofters, and lairds in one of mainland Britain's most scenic and isolated corners. The Wee Mad Road is a warm and witty account of two years in the Highlands, with illustrations of everyday life in the wildest reaches of the United Kingdom. It's a 'how to' book for anyone who dreams of escaping the doldrums of suburban midlife and starting over. We were looking for somewhere to get milk along the road. We stopped at the Drumbeg viewpoint overlooking Eddrachillis bay where we met a white-haired ex-hippie who was also doing the same route as us, indeed we saw him often on our travels, next popping up at Sango sands in Durness. We exchanged witticisms about how we were only doing the NC500 to find a rubbish bin, there were none at Clachtoll beach site where we had both been the night before. We thought we would walk to the shop in Drumbeg but the wind was so overpowering we got back in the van and drove there, only to find it was shut anyhow as it was Sunday. No worries we carried on round the very twisty steeply inclined (both directions) road, its name is not without cause, but we loved it, the remoteness and views are what the NC500 is all about in our humble opinion. Back on the main road A837 at Unapool we were able to make a little more progress, we stopped at the only open shop in Scourie to get milk. After that we went to Laxford Bridge, Rhiconish then the single-track road all the way across the “rock ridges” of upper Sutherland to Durness, where we had been before in 2012 when we visited Cape Wrath. Note the single-track road was a breeze after the Wee Mad Road, I can tell you. Much of this area is a route called the rock route with tourist info boards, I read a few but rocks are just not my thing unless forgive me it is reclassified as Rock music, now you are talking! Tee-hee We checked into Sango Sands site, one we have stayed at before, choosing a pitch on the cliff edge with fab views. It was raining , we had looked for diesel here in Durness but none was available. Luckily, we had enough to get mostly across the top of Scotland. The rest of the day and night was rain, sleet, snow and what I can only describe as near gale force winds that rocked the van for most of the evening and night, not the most relaxing, and indeed our second experience of horrendous winds at this campsite. As no one was in the office when we arrived and we certainly didn’t fancy walking anywhere the kind lady came to collect our fee at the door, which almost blew off when we opened it. Not sure we will return to Sango Sands ever again although our pals from Mull went there in Storm Dennis and were the only ones on the site, not surprising, but either brave or foolhardy , I wouldn’t. We had a quick chat with the young Belgian couple next to us who were touring in his converted Sprinter van, they needed some change from us to do their washing. I think with the worry we managed to sleep at least a bit but it wasn’t great, couldn’t wait to leave. Day 6 Up early couldn’t sleep because of the wind anyhow, it had lessened a bit, we drove over to the only amenities open all the ones near us were boarded up against the weather, not great really. The two good things they had done since last time we visited 10 years ago was set up many more level graveled pitches and a breakfast bar, not that we used it but the lady who took our money was thankfully tucking into a bacon butty. We reckon the reason so much of Scottish food is grease ladened is to shut out the cold, it’s a bit like covering yourself in fat to swim the channel. It reminds me of our deep-fried mars bar experience in Blog 131. Didn't know that there was a memorial in Durness to John Lennon. Here is a write up about the Durness stuff, indeed In My Life off the Beatles rubber soul album, which he wrote was inspired by childhood stays at the croft in Durness. We are collecting visits to John Lennon Memorials as back in 2019 just off Reykjavik on Videy Island Yoko build the Imagine Peace Tower. (See BLOG 135) . We then went past Smoo Caves which we still haven’t seen, to the Robb Donn trail clearance village. Then it was around loch erribol on the single-track road onto tongue across the kyle of tongue causeway which was being repaired. The famous youth hostel Chris and I stayed at back in 1974 which was a posh yoof hostel by 2012 was sadly now closed, boo! At tongue we finally found some diesel and at £1.97 a litre I had no choice, I would have paid even more. Saw castle Varrich and quite a few more clearance villages before the long scenic drive through highlands Caithness to initially scrabster where we once caught the ferry to the Orkneys back in 1985. Then into Thurso and buying some much needed provisions in Lidl there, having lunch in their car park overlooking the bay before heading on through Dunnet-to-Dunnet head and visiting the lighthouse at the most northerly point in the UK past Brough. We then returned down the awfully maintained single track back into Dunnet and then onto the wonderful Caravan and motorhome club site at Dunnet bay where we stayed for 2 days. We set up camp and whilst the weather was reasonable walked down onto the beach via the boardwalk and walked quite a long way along, it is allegedly 2.5 miles long and when the wind is up makes a great surfing beach, lovely sands, but as the tide was coming in and the wind bitter, we turned around and returned to the van for some warming soup. Then it was time to read and relax, listening to the new Bryan Adams album so happy it hurts, just wonderful. Day 7 2nd day at Dunnet Bay campsite, not great weather in the morning, rained most of the time, a clear patch mid-afternoon gave Keef time to walk into Dunnet and visit the Gin distillery there as well as walk up to the turning for Dunnet head. The gin place was closed but I was able to look into see the process and some of the Gins they sold. I was also able to stroll around their gardens where there were lots of herbs I had never heard of which they used the flavour the gin. Hugely expensive the cheapest in the shop window seemed to be £57 a bottle, wow! By the time I had walked back it was raining again but at least I got a little exercise and some learning. The viewing platform at the other end of the beach was interesting at was the displays but school kids outside the cap site. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and reading. I am reading a historical novel about Katherine De Swynford, mistress and later wife of John of Gaunt, later on in the holiday this enable us to say that Allyson and Annie are distantly related. On the site there was an auto sleeper executive very similar to ours only somewhat older, just shows they keep going. Day 8 Left the fab Dunnet bay past the Queens Mums castle of Mey (which we visited in 2012) and travelled onto to John O’Groats hoping it had improved since our last visit 10 years ago. The brochures said the quaint village of John O’ Groats, on the way we stopped at Gills Bay where a ferry goes to both the near island of Stroma and St Margaret’s Hope on South Ronaldsay in the Orkney Islands which we visited in 1985. The ferry is run by Pentland Firth, I need investigate whether it carries vehicles because the John O’Groats one is only passenger. It may be an alternative to Scrabster – Stromness when we return to the Orkneys which we are thinking of doing in Wendy house as well as the Shetlands assuming there are enough campsites. Sadly, John O’Groats is still a dump, and the new holiday pods look more like WW2 bunkers, note to self never go back again. This is what was in the Dunnet Bay Caravan and Motorhome Club site marketing leaflet, we looked for it honest but didn't find it, hugely disappointing. After John O’Groats we stopped near Keiss castle, went past the lovely Sinclair Bay and after that we travelled onto Wick to buy shortbread, Scottish products and visit Old Pulteney distillery to buy Doug a rare whiskey for his collection. In wick we even visited their old castle, not that wonderful. Then it was on down the A9 past Dunbeath castle, Helmsdale, Wolfstone and onto Dunrobin castle which we had not been to before. We spent a pleasant few hours there, in what seems like a French chateau, owned by successive Dukes & Duchesses of Sutherland, the earlier ones being responsible for the Highland clearances so not that popular. Loved the fact that one so rich built his own station nearby and ran steam trains to it, he was an engineer . I personally loved the old clocks of which there were plenty. The gardens were very formal, we took hundreds of pictures and tried to spot the falconry. The images were in case we decided to invest in some solid real estate, ha-ha. It was then back to the start of our NC500 trip and the Torvean campsite on the other side of the city of Inverness, by the Caledonian canal, a very overpriced campsite for what it was, we would never use it again preferring Grantown on Spey that isn’t that far away #hintsandtips Day 9 Filled the van water tank to about half, then we left for the lovely drive along the edge of Loch Ness, didn’t see Nessie but we stopped at Urquhart castle for a squint at the relic. We then stopped at the Commando monument mostly for the view of the mountains especially a snow-covered Ben Nevis. From here it was through a somewhat built-up Fort William, along the side of loch eil and stpooing for lunch just the other side of the Ballachulish bridge off the A82. From here we motored on to Oban , got some diesel did a bit of shopping and joined the ferry queue for our 4 pm departure to Mull and Craignure. Allyson had collected Chris from Oban hospital and was in lane 1 in the queue beside us. So great to meet up with our pals on the ferry. Chris was recovering from an op and as they were in a car went ahead of us who are somewhat slow in our van across the 34-ish miles of south Mull to their house in Ardtun near Bunnessan Days 10-13 lovely times with pals Chris & Allyson plus the Harveys whom we picked up from the ferry terminal in Chris’s car which I borrowed, besides friends time, escape room games, great food, chat, music - especially Skippernish - trad scottish with a hint of sea shanty, walk to Bunnessan, chic feeding , car practise to Fionnphort , seeing Iona at a distance , Annie and I first went there and to Mull in August 1976 before we were married, walks on Uisken beach, sitting on Peter Morris’s chair, walk to Ardalanish beach across the river and Dunes, near the Weavers we went to before, Annie visiting Monica from NZ with Allyson, venison and oh so many wonderful meals, they sure did look after us, just a great time spent wih pals, so loved it. Stopped for David to take this picture on the way from the Ferry to C&A's at Ardtun. Day 14 up early washed, packed and ready for the long drive back to Craignure to catch the ferry back to Oban, from there we drove via Inverary , Rest and be thankful, Loch Lomond, Fish and chip lunch in Dumbarton with its strange castle / prison riverside, The Erskine bridge and mass traffic around the outskirts of Glasgow back to the Strathclyde country park Caravan and motorhome club site we have stayed at often, a great stopping off point. Day 15 Back across the border into England today leaving Glasgow via the M74 right next door to the campsite, how convenient. Right down as far as the North York moors, pulling off the motorway past dales through Hawes, we stopped for lunch and a bit of shopping in Skipton, quite a busy place especially as the market was on, then it was onto Bolton abbey via Bolton bridge, through the low arch next to the Duke & Duchess of Devonshire plush estate and into Strid woods and the Cravan and motorhome club site named Bolton Abbey, used to be Strid Woods. Greeted by our pals Yvonne and Lawrence who are sole wardens there, had a fab evening meal and time with them catching up, we will see them again soon. Day 16 said our goodbyes and headed back through Harrogate, Weatherby, A1 , A1M to home and unpacking the van, a truly lovely holiday doing the NC500 and seeing friends. We both loved every moment of it. 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