Roland Ladley's Blog, page 9

Weddings …

Weddings. Thankfully both of our girls have had theirs. Bex’s was a very family affair in Penkridge. We hired a hall, a caterer, a small band, did the decorations with the help of a wonderful group of bridesmaids and best men, got my brother (bless him) to run a quiz and, on the day, I could not have been prouder. For C and I it was the perfect family wedding. Jen’s was a year later. A much smaller affair – their choice – on the Isle of Skye. We took over a small, fabulously placed hotel and snuggled in for the weekend. It was cosy and warm. Again … I couldn’t have been prouder.

Both weddings were managed on a budget. We’d given the girls a choice: support for house purchase, or a grand wedding. Thankfully they both went for the latter, although we all chipped in to make the days special. I don’t think anyone particularly noticed that we had cut our cloth. I hope not.

mmm, Suffolk

Why do I mention all this? Well, I’ve already made the point about how much we enjoyed our girls’ days. But … last weekend we were kindly asked to see off our mates’ daughter, Emily. It was a country wedding in Suffolk based at their quite lovely small farmhouse which sits in a fab garden. We travelled up in Doris, attended a ‘night before’ supper at local hotel with Army friends (cycling there and back), stayed in a fab and empty small caravan site (£18/night including EHU), and then cycled to the wedding the next day. Well, what a day. It was just fabulous. Beautifully done, with bedouin-style marquees, posh loos, mouth watering food, more drink than either of us needed, and an evening party atmosphere which, it’s fair to say, was the best night C and I have had for a v long time. We were both sore. She had a twisted her ankle having fallen out of the front door two days before, and I had tripped running on the Friday morning and had bruised ribs and various cuts and gashes. But … we danced all night. And ate and drank too much. It was fab. Oh! And the bride and groom looked delightful. Thanks Phil and Denise. And phew …

lovely site

We came home via mum’s and, since Monday, I’ve been working on book covers with our Jen and C has been sorting stuff because … we’re off to London tomorrow for a 21st birthday party (by bus) and then to Mary’s on Thursday to make the hop to Italy for 12 days to attend the next in the line of weddings. How lucky are we?

How exciting … due out in July

Part of the ‘sorting’ has been decluttering our second bedroom and rejigging the garage, turning the bedroom into a study/dressing room for when Bex, Steven and Henry arrive (they get into Heathrow the day before we fly back from Italy). And prepping Doris for them … as their detached studio apartment. It’s going to be absolute chaos when we get back. Madness. I’m so looking forward to it.

never easy

And, for the record, an update on replacing our broadband with a Smarty unlimited 4G SIM (£20/month, no contract) fitted to a TP-Link MiFi. So far we haven’t noticed the difference, save it doesn’t blip anywhere near as often as the old Talk Talk broadband. And we took the system to Suffolk with us, where it also worked well. I’d say that was a result, no?

this works

Anyhow. Gotta go. I hope all of your plans are firming up for the summer. And, at last, it seems Mrs Sun might be making an effort. Stay safe.

Stay safe.

Busy, busy

We’re back. And we’ve been up to stuff, and are preparing to do more stuff. So much so, I don’t want to wait until the weekend to update you.

First we’re back into our ‘walk one day, run the next’, including the necessary stop for a coffee sat outsides Greggs watching the world go by. I was pleased yesterday when I pushed out a 20 minute/4.6km run, a benchmark of mine. But we’ve also been doing a lot of niff-naff. C’s back into sorting the house (complaining about the lack of space, more of which in a bit) and baking. I’ve been servicing the bikes, including new rear pads for C’s bike … did I tell you how good they are? Now ten year’s old, I popped into Bristol on Saturday for a check up on my heart. No biggies here, just keeping an eye on potential aneurysms as they run in the family. It takes an easy 40 minutes pedalling to get into the city, and 50 minutes, uphill, to get home. An equivalent car ride, with commensurate CO2 and petrol and parking costs would take 20. So cycling is a sound option, if the weather works.

did I mention how good they are?

I’ve sorted the garden and worked on Doris. There’s some surface rust on the chassis which I have scrubbed and Hammerited. Another small piece of wood on the garage floor which, because of two rusting screws, needed treating. The older, major work, caused by water ingress through the garage doors which I sorted two years ago, has remained perfectly dry and solid. I’m really pleased with that. If I’d asked a professional to do it, it may have looked much better but would probably have set us back over £1000. I have played with the 240v which needed an extra RCB fitted, and put a tilt on the TV bracket. That was needed because with how we sit (in a vegetative state) we’re not looking straight on and don’t get the best picture … blacker than usual. I’ve yet to check it, but I hope ‘the tilt’ makes a difference. And I’ve taken off, cleaned, and replaced the kitchen sink seal. That looks good (hurrah!).

first job …

But that’s been the breezy bit – at least we’ve been static. We’ve got a bit of a diary coming up. Tomorrow is our Jen’s birthday (James the day after) and we’re all off The Wild Place, an offshoot of Bristol Zoo. On Wednesday we’re driving down to Dorset for C’s middle sister’s 70th birthday. We’re meeting up with big sis as well and all going out to lunch. And then on Thursday we’re heading to Suffolk for Phil and Denise’s daughter’s wedding. That’s going to be a fab … and a bit special, on so many levels. We’re going up in Doris and getting round by bike (did I tell you how good they are?), which will be fun and, doubtless, amusing – in a ‘what on earth way?’ – to many. We come back from there on Sunday via mum’s and then I’ve got a lot of work to do on book 8 (now, The Harder They Fall), before we take a bus to London the following weekend to go to an 18th birthday party. We’ve done the ‘bus to London’ before and loved it. It should be no different this time.

still running

And then we’re back for a few days before heading to Mary’s for our 12 day Italy trip, which encompasses another wedding. The last Italian wedding we attended almost did for us. So much food and drink! But … how lucky are we? Anyhow that should sink all of June, coming up for breath in July – when Bex, Steven and Henry return.

C and I have also been re-chatting about where to live. Clearly we can’t take any action before the autumn, especially as we have a likely 6-week trip Saudi Arabia, ‘looking after Henry trip’ planned for late summer (after which a wedding in Ibiza … whatever next?). But then? We are fortunate enough to be able to look at any option, including pushing off to Portugal and getting citizenship … which sounds really good, doesn’t it? Anyhow, we’ve not come to a conclusion. Doubtless it will continue to vex us.

Finally, an internet story. And, no, not a novel; more broadband based. When we moved into the house three and a bit years ago we bought the cheapest broadband we could find – £17.99 a month from Talk Talk. Apparently it’s ‘fast broadband’, but not delivered via fibre. Anyhow, we were told that there would be no increase in price and yet, here we are with a third hike to £25.05 a month. And it’s neither fast, nor reliable. I have complained every time about price increases, and twice about how unreliable it is. But to no avail. Anyhow, this time enough was enough. The long and the short was a long internet ‘chat’ with someone on a far distant continent. At one point I was threatened with bailiffs and a damaged credit score, by which time I was determined that Talk Talk would not longer have our business. In the end we agreed to cancel the contract with a 6-month early cancellation fee of £30. Phew.

look who’s baking

So, what broadband? Well I’ve been toying with a 4G data SIM alternative for a while. A decent Mifi cost £70 and a guaranteed unlimited data contract (one month at a time) is £20 from Smarty. I’ve tested the Mifi with my Tesco SIM and we rewatched No Time To Die a couple of nights ago without a problem. The Smarty SIM arrives in the next couple of days. The advantage is that there is, to all intents and purposes, no contract. When we go to Saudi, for example, we can cancel, and then subsequently reboot. Second, and importantly, we can take the Mifi with us guaranteeing, signal depending, unlimited internet on the move in Doris. No more bulk DVD buys!

I will let you know how it goes.

Anyhow stay safe. So looking forward to going back to lbs and ounces … what are these people playing at? I’m lost for words.

Next stop Wales

And so it ends. The last day of our Irish odyssey. It’s been four weeks, but it feels a lot longer. Like we can’t really get our heads around our first night’s stopover at Dunabrattin Head where, within half an hour, two random Irishmen had come along an wanted to chat about life. That seems like a lifetime ago. Since then we’ve done nearly all of the south and west coast. And some of the interior.

could be France … but colder

Having left the west coast we had a night in the Wicklow Mountains where, on arrival, we walked four miles up a hill to one of those hydro-pump reservoirs, where they push the water up during the night and release it through turbines, downwards, at peak times … another 200 metres of climb. The next day we walked down the valley to Glendalough, one of Ireland’s biggest tourist attractions. A beautiful valley where they built, and have left to ruin, seven churches. It was lovely, if uber-busy. We found a place for coffee in a small tat-lined road and were rewarded with a doe and her foal walking in the treeline just a few few from us and the mobile coffee stop. We had a brisk walk around the churches and then got away from the crowds and trekked in the hills back up to Doris. Another six miles and a further 200 metres of climb.

another climb

Doris reminded us that she needed an empty and a fill, so that was next on the agenda. We’ve pretty much managed 4/5 days between halts and, frankly, with the second cassette for the loo we could stretch that by a further couple of days. But when one loo is full, we are on the hunt. We found a camperstop in Arklow where, from SearchForSites, it seemed we could empty for ten euros. In the end it was actually a proper motorhome aire where the cost for a pleasant, but restricted-view park, was twenty euros. I asked the lady if we could just dump and fill, and she said ‘yes’ – the cost of which was just five euros. Perfect. We then drove into Arklow itself and immediately fell in love with this very clean, small port town, parking quayside among a number of biggish boats. We walked into town for a Guinness, ran the next morning and then walked to a cafe for brunch, before heading for our final stop at Hook Head – the oldest, continuously working lighthouse in the world. We’ve been here a night and are staying for a second. Our ferry from Rosslare is tomorrow.

lots of churches

How’s it been? Well, we’re exhausted. Physically that is. I don’t think we’ve ever been this active, running, walking, and cycling. Today we’ve walked again, just a short, shoreline five kms. For both of us everything’s a bit tired. There’s aches and weariness. But … we intend to run tomorrow morning before we head for the ferry. The unknown question is whether or not we can, or indeed want to, keep this up. We shall see when we’re home.

love Arklow

It’s fair to say we have naturally come to the end of our stay. It’s always the same. If we our trip had been for six weeks we’d have had two weeks more energy in us. But it’s not. And we don’t. We’re both, in our own ways, looking forward to going home and changing the view.

at Hook lighthouse … stormy

Ireland is beautiful. It’s green and blue and quiet and motorhome friendly and relaxed and beautiful and full of things to do, if you like walking with decent views. There’s a softness about the place which we’ve never experienced before. It’s not all Colin Farrell – ‘In Bruges’. It’s so much more folky, and poetic. And they don’t care. It’s unthreatening, which is fab when you’re driving a 7.5 metre, 4.5 tonnes white brick. But it’s windy. And wet. And it’s been cold. We’ve not once sat outside for any length of time browning our knees. Even today, with the sun out, the westerly wind was cold enough for me to wear a hat (C’s got so much hair now, she doesn’t have to). But it’s efficient. There are petrol stations everywhere. There’s an Aldi or a Lidl in every town. The 4G signal is excellent, and there are plenty of places to wild camp. In many ways it’s the perfect motorhome destination.

So, will we be coming back? Noting that the next time we use Doris in anger is unlikely to be before next Spring (that’s a long story, more of which in the next blog) it seems possible that Scotland might be calling. Or, just as likely, somewhere hotter. Like France. Or back to Germany. In those two countries the diversity is enormous. Sweet medieval towns, deep gorges, a wide history, fabulous coastlines and a more colourful culture, a more foreign feel … and heat. We could do with some heat.

You should definitely come to Ireland, though. And four weeks is a good length of time. Six, if it’s a once in a lifetime trip, then you could do Dublin and the north (which we have ignored because we have our own history up there). You’ll love it. It’s not cheap, but where is nowadays?

In the meantime, stay safe. I could launch into a pool of political rhetoric but, to be honest, it’s all getting a little too real for me now. Brexit, climate change, Ukraine, global inflationary pressure and this awful government makes me fretful. So I won’t do that. I’ll make a cup of tea instead.

A tale of three hills

It has been a tale of three hills. Sure we’ve spent nearly every night by the sea and had some spectacular stops. But the hills! The first was a smallish (300 metres) jobbie close to the lovely coastal village of Roundtsone. The top was in cloud and the route guesswork – they don’t have an Ordnance Survey equivalent here and there are few marked paths. But it was fun and well worth the views. Next, having run one morning from a quiet, quayside spot at Tully Mountain, we managed to find ourselves in the Connemara National Park where, if you wished, you could climb one of the 12 Bens (Diamond Hill) … which we did. Three hours and almost 400 metres of climb later in pretty strong winds, but alway buoyed on by a group of teenagers schoolkids just ahead of us, we loved it. And we congratulated ourselves with tea and scones at the end … the Irish do like their scones.

The weather at this point was getting windier and wetter and, in fairness to this chunk of land sticking out into the wild Atlantic, it seems that this is absolutely normal. Anyhow, we drove to our furthest northwest point, the island of Achill, where we attempted runs in conditions in which the seagulls had shown disdain. We then found a quiet(ish … in terms of wind) spot in a quarry and watched rain we’ve not seen since Sierra Leone, plummet from the sky. We woke, very clear that after yesterday’s run today was an easy day and all we needed was a coffee. Well, that didn’t happen. But an assault on Croagh Patrick, a 762 metre monster which is a pilgrimage for followers of the great man (apparently he killed some monsters from the peak), did. We were both convinced that the wind precluded anything above sea level, but then we also knew we were starting our return journey and who knew when we’d be back.

on top of a mountain …

So off we jollywelled. 762 metres from Sea Level is like climbing the Pig Track on Snowdon, and is only 100 metres short of Scafell from the NT carpark. Both of which, in my book (and I’ve done both four times), are easier climbs. The final 300 metres of St Patrick’s mountain was straight up, close to a scramble – and you can see the route and your fellow hill walkers for ages. It looked tough. And it was tough. C only once said those immortal words, ‘I can’t do this’, for which I am v proud. But we did it. At the top is a small, white chapel which we hid behind and drank our tea. Then! I got an SMS from Doris telling me she’d been broken into. In fact I got 4 SMSs. Well, there was nothing we could do about that. In favour of not panicking was the fact that she was on the main road where, hopefully, we might assume she had been rocked by a truck and the internal microwave had gone off. 

long way down

From the top we could just make Doris out. And she wasn’t going anywhere. And I couldn’t see, surrounded by buses and on the main road, how someone would have had the confidence to break in. Well, we wouldn’t know until we got down. And getting down required diligence, as it was steep. I fell on my backside once. And C, who was hanging onto me, fell on top of me. No major damage done. But we made it. And, sure enough, at the bottom we found Doris unharmed, which was a big phew all round.

gotta get down yet and deal with Doris’s alarm

In terms of other stopovers … we had a lovely night at Doo Lough, a super lake surrounded by hills, where we were invited in for a drink by Dutch, motorhome neighbours. And, last night, we stopped, sea-lough side, at Leenaun, where we had a pint at the local, very Irish bar followed this morning by a coffee at the visitors’ centre – where we met our Dutch friends again! Fab.

We’ve headed east now as our ferry is on Wednesday. We’ve stopped by a bridge over a canal, and tomorrow we’re pointed towards the WIcklow Mountains, before we hit the east coast and head south. It seems like we’ve been away for a year, which is a good thing. But it’s still not long enough. I don’t think I’m ready to head back onto the mainland where Johnson’s dad has just been given his French citizenship, because he wants to keep his European identity. It does drive you a little but mad, no?  

mmmmmm

When’s the first riot?

Change of tack. Let’s not do a day-by-day blow of what we have done. Safe to say that we have continued to, pretty much, keep to the Irish coast (which is very, very long) and have seen a lot of beaches, sea, cliffs, sunsets and everything you’d expect from a long drive by the coast. And it has been fab. Highlights have included the Cliffs of Moher, which are a pricey and busy tourist attraction (12 euros each). But with a 10 km walk, undertaken by us but not many of our fellow American tourists, the views were spectacular. The price, by the way, included overnight parking, so we shouldn’t complain. An overnight at Loop Head lighthouse, with further fabulous cliffs and a magnificent natural arch, a night by Carrigafoyles Castle, another by a tiny quay in southern Galway, and another in the midst of the limestone and lake land that is Connemara, and we have been spoilt with scenery.

The weather has played its part in both a good and a not so good way. As is always the case (it seems) we are never short of the right sort of weather for the things we want to dio. So far we haven’t been put off by a squall or a gale. But it is windy. And we have had some rain. And it’s never really been warm enough to sit outside, not without wrapping up warm. Which is fine, but it would be nice …

We have, as we do, walked, run and cycled. Yesterday we parked up in an Aldi carpark and cycled into Galway city. This morning we both ran 5 kms around a circuit from our quay stopover. The other day we ran for half an hour along a beach road. And we walked a 14 km round trip up the Gap Dunloe, which was like a junior Glencoe but with many more horses and traps. We have also kept off alcohol – which has been a theme for a couple of months now. I’m v proud of C, who likes the odd tipple. She has resolutely stuck to drinking very irregularly and then keeping the measures short. I’m the lucky one and wouldn’t miss a drink if they introduced prohibition. But it’s nice to have the odd glass here and there.

So, what’s not to like? Well 4G is fab here. It’s almost everywhere. Diesel is cheaper than the UK, but goodness you do feel the pressure with the much higher prices, even here. The people continue to be fab and accommodating of Doris. But … there is no wildlife. None. I’m writing this in the middle of a huge expanse of bog land – think a slightly smaller version of Rannock Moor. And there’s nothing. No birds – particularly no birds of prey. No deer. No nothing. If you come for the wildlife, then there’s a lot happening at sea, but nothing for ground lovers. 

our own cairn

Doris continues to be our baby. We’ve been away for over two weeks and have still not had to plug her in, noting that we charge the bike batteries from the solar panels and consistently use 240V for kettle and toaster. I’ve taken her everywhere. We’ve had two very tight squeezes, one with a massive tourist coach, but both of them were workable. Again, there have been no raised eyebrows and much help to make sure we’re all safe. I’m unconvinced of the utility of our very expensive new Garmin truck satnav, which has a big screen and tells us when to breathe in, but I’m not sure it’s worth the price. We’ve made a few notes on further improvements, some of which I will sort whilst we’re out, some when we get home. But, and I say this with absolutely no confidence, I don’t think there’s a better van, or a better equipped van in the country. She is pretty perfect. Oh … and we have found two more ‘free’ drops, for water fill up and loo emptying. They’re not as plentiful as they are, say, in France. But we’ve managed so far … which is great.

Stay safe everyone. As you’re probably aware there was nothing in the Queen’s Speech to tackle climate change. Temperatures on the Indian subcontinent are breaking records. It seems that Siberia is going to be having a go soon. Temperatures in southern Europe look to be breaking records soon, and there are massive floods in Australia at the moment (following on from South Africa), and the wildfires in California have started early. Conversely, staying with the same state, California supplied all of its electricity from renewables last month and it seems likely that the EU are going to introduce a new law making it illegal to build new houses without solar panels. We, of course, are no longer in the EU, hence my previous comment about the Queen’s speech. It does my head in.  

What a shower of a government we have. Where’s the first riot going to be? Sign me up …

Ireland – Week 2

We’re having a day off. That is, we ran first thing this morning, drove a short distance to a small peninsular town, found Aldi (they are ubiquitous here) and then pottered on a short distance further parked up and vowed to do nothing. It’s been quite a time … all in a good way.

a couple of seniors

I’ll do this by days, because that’s easier for me.

Sunday. We left the quite lovely and desolate spot in the Knockmealdown Mountains and headed for Cashel, which is Irish for Glastonbury. Well, almost. It’s a church/castle on top of a rock in the Suir valley. It was fascinating, but not quite as fascinating as the fact that C and I both got in as seniors (over-60) here. And I’m not sure what I felt about that. We then headed southwest back to the coast as that bit of inland Ireland was interesting, but lacked the drama of the sea. We ended up in another lovely spot on Cork waterfront, overlooking the main river (Lee) into the city. There were boats and everything. We walked for a bit and, all alone, got our heads down.

Cork waterfront

Monday (bank holiday). We ran first thing down the river and back again. You have to hand it to these Irish, but they do like to promenade – and run. We were soon inundated with lots of folk doing their daily exercise. We cycled the short trip into the city, did the sights (of which there are not a huge number), had a coffee out and cycled back. Next stop was a lovely viewpoint at Rosscarbery Bay where me, whale watcher extraordinaire, found a pool of dolphins in the distance along with the odd yacht. We were joined by a German couple in another Hymer who spent ages looking at our bump-stop wheels we had fitted with the towbar. When we bought Doris she had sacrificial rubber bumps (to prevent the rear of the chassis from grounding), but the wheels are so much better. It was good to be ahead of our continental pals, for once.

Look … Dolphins!

Tuesday. Cycle day. We were now heading for the southernmost of Ireland’s westerly fingers, which stick out into the Atlantic, with the aim of cycling to Mizen Head. We parked up by the beach (again, there are so many places to chose from) and cycled 25 miles to Mizen Head and back. It was lovely, as was the Marconi radio station attraction at the point, where the Italian made the first radio comms to the US. Entrance was 7 euros each (no senior discount this time, sadly) and worth every penny. There were concrete walks up and down the point, one taking you all the way down off the cliff to a view to a natural arch, and a second to a fabulous viewpoint across the the next finger. We picniced at Barley Cove, one of many, dramatic, wide sandy coves along the way … and thought ourselves very lucky indeed.

Marconi’s assistant

Wednesday. We wanted to run today, but it was too hilly from our viewpoint for C and the road narrow and busy-ish, so we headed off around the coast (we’re following the well marked – with a blue wave sign – Wild Atlantic Way, which stretches for 1500 miles the whole length of the west coast). We stopped for free water and dump at a hotel in Bantry before heading down the next finger to the Dursey Island cable car. It was a longer trek than we had in mind, but it enabled us to run on the point to the top of the highest hill on the peninsular (140 metres), run back and feel very proud of ourselves. No cable car, alas, as it was being looked over by health and safety – they may be there for some time. We headed back along the top of the second finger, found a fabulous harbour car park which was next to a pub and, again, felt very pleased with ourselves. However … after a couple of limes and sodas the guy sat outside the pub told us there was an even better spot a mile along. So off we jolly-welled. Which, and you know where this is going, was a mistake. The place was lovely and I squeezed Doris off the road to a promontory which was perfect, but I was immediately concerned about getting stuck there. So we got off it … and carried on driving.

I’m pointing at the hill!

Two hours later (yes, sometimes there aren’t that many places to stop) and well into the very long ‘Ring of Kerry’, around the fattest of fingers, we eventually found a quiet quayside at Sneem and, a little tired an irritable, we unwound.

it’s all lovely

Thursday. Cycle day. A shortest hop to another very quiet quayside spot at Ballinskelligs where, with the weather unsure of what it was up to, we got the bikes out and headed for Portmagee, the gateway to Valencia Island. Actually the weather held off, just. But the, ‘trust me it’s a short, flat, 10-mile ride’ turned out to be two hills with 400 metres of climb. On the way back, worried about power levels (I’ve been charging the bikes via Doris’s li-ion batteries which, in turn, have been charged by the sun and Doris’s alternator) ended up as a bit of a struggle, especially as I couldn’t find first gear. C, on the other hand, pedalled away without a care in the world. It was impressive stuff … as were the bikes. Have I told you about them before?

gonna need the sandwich for the cycle back

Today/Friday. Our first proper rain. But it didn’t stop us from running and then heading around the final bit of the Ring of Kerry for an Aldi stop (every town has one – prices about 10-20% higher than UK) and then a roadside stop with fabulous views across to the next finger, Dingle. That may be tomorrow’s effort.

relax

What else have we learnt? More about the plusses and minuses of Ireland v Scotland at a later date. Just now, we love Ireland. It’s v west coast of Scotland but without the massive mountains. The villages are all brightly painted in every colour you could think of, and the people are charming. No one seems to give a damn about motorhomes, which is encouraging, and everyone is v welcoming.

Doris is surviving. Everything is working. My Tesco SIM allows me to use all my data (50 GB) as does C’s Vodafone (60GB, but restricted to 25 GB here) and there’s 4G everywhere – and it’s quick and efficient. We are using more diesel than I was expecting and, as you know, it’s 80% more expensive than it was when we did the same thing to Ayr this time last year. But we’ll survive, especially as we seem to have avoided stopping at pubs for many pints of Guinness.

any colour you like

All-in-all, everything is well. We seem fit and healthy … and looking forward to the next bit of this adventure. Keep safe everyone.

We made it …

on our way

We made it. Actually it was much more straightforward than we expected. We turned up at Pembroke Dock at teatime, had supper, did some stuff, slept poorly on our seats rather than in the bed, and were loaded before 2 am. The ferry seemed unbusy and we slept more soundly on benches for three hours, waking up in Wexford feeling like we’d both been on night duty. We then drove to Waterford, did Tesco and Lidl (prices are typical northern european, about 10/20% more than the UK), before heading for a lovely sandy cove-spot at Dunabrattin Head, where we idled the day and slept well. Ireland was quickly proving to be quiet, slow-paced, beautiful and the people very welcoming.

already looking good

But, first … earlier on ferry day I’d taken Jen to a hospital appointment in Bristol to see a geneticist. I don’t normally go on about her conditions, although I know she is v open about it all. The reason I mention it here is that I went in to see the consultant with her – on purpose. Among a few diagnosed issues, she has a connective tissue disorder which makes her v bendy, both inside and out. This is causing problems vascularly, leading to pain and an issue with a racing heartbeat and a failure of blood to return from her legs. The syndrome is called Marfan’s and, whilst not yet diagnosed, the geneticist would help there. The things is, it seems likely a lot of us on my side of the family have it … it’s in the genes. My mum’s affliction has been an aortic aneurysm, leading to open heart surgery. We think her twin brother has had the same problem. All of us have miss-shapened chests, a sign of Marfan’s, as is floppy connective tissue. Having had a long chat to the lady doctor, who was fascinated by both of us and keen to work out what was happening, it seems that a number of things (I have an unusually long heart and a floppy valve) could be linked genetically. Anyhow, she took blood from Jen to check out, and we are both going to be called forward for a thorough heart examination.

aorta currently working ok

For me, it would be interesting to put a name to my disformity. And for Jen, me, Bex, cousins and Henry, it would be interesting to see if there is a common gene so that, if nothing else, someone can keep an eye on our hearts. None of us want an unnecessarily bulging aorta.

Back to Ireland where, after two lovely days, we now have a little bit of rain. We moved on from the cove and parked up, harbourside, at Dungarvan where for 10 euros a night we had a lovely spot with water and disposal, right next door to a large sports hall which had been set up to house Ukrainian refugees. Fab. Yesterday we cycled 40 miles (yes, 40) to Ardmore where St Decklan was buried, next to which the good catholics had erected a 30 metre high tower. Clearly St Decklan was short of a good publicist as he was in the country well before St Patrick, but didn’t get his name in lights. We lunched sitting on the beach and made it back in time for a cuppa, waterside, with Mrs Sun doing a small Irish jig. Our bikes were, as always, fab. Both had used only half of their battery power. If we had the inclination (we had not) we could have cycled another 40 miles. Heavy legged, we both ran this morning before heading inland to the Knockmealdown Mountains where we are currently parked up at a view point enjoying some lovely solitude (apart from a tractor rally which drove past us an hour or so ago). Pretty perfect, overall.

St Decklan needed decent media …

What have we learnt so far? There’s money here – the potato famine days are long gone. Property is expensive and a lot of it is architecturally designed from scratch, or extended. There are lots of large, irregularly-shaped, whitewashed houses with big, grey picture windows, and big gardens. They love their kerbsides. Those belonging to property are immaculately kept with pretty spring flowers and chiselled hedges. There’s property pride here, for sure.

Harbourside

And the people are v welcoming. Within 24 hours five separate locals had come by Doris and chatted. I’m pretty sure two men drove down to the cove carpark just to say hello, compliment us on our van, talk about their own vans and holidays, swear a lot, before heading off home. One woman was writing a book about a girl in a camper and wanted to pick our brains about how things worked. They were all lovely. And, it seems, we can park anywhere that’s public. ‘out of season, don’t mind the by-laws … nobody entertains them.’ That’ll do for us.

noisy tractors

So it looks like we’re set for a terrific four weeks. C has mapped out what to see. And I will go where I’m told. And I’ll keep you posted!

loving this

Stay safe.

That’s Easter then

It’s been a good week, I feel, if you are keen to see the end of Putin and Johnson. I really sense that Putin has shot his bolt. The new attacks in the Donbas region, to forge a landbridge between Crimea and Russia, look perilous with the West now stepping up with heavy weapons … and lots of them. And there is now clear momentum towards a leadership contest to bring down His Borisness. Apparently – according to some Tory MPs – the brand is well and truly tarnished, with local conservative leaflets for the forthcoming local elections making no mention of Johnson or Sunak in their literature. Hopefully when he goes he takes R-M, Truss, Raab, Dorries and Gove with him. Hopefully.

Today is World Earth Day. It might well be but, and I know we’ve been distracted by covid, Brexit and Ukraine, does anyone really feel that the grown ups are taking this seriously? Why are houses still being built fitted for gas and not splattered with solar panels and linked up to an air source heat pump? Sure, the end of the world isn’t nigh for my generation, but it will v likely be for grandson Henry’s. And, surely, a mad push for renewables might make us actual world-leaders in something, rather than the current government’s use of the term to describe nearly everything else they do where we are not.

Enough.

a belated happy Easter

Easter was fun, buoyed by pretty good weather … Mrs Sun mostly in attendance. It was easy having Mary here and, as happens, we slowed down a bit, strolling over the town for a cuppa, and then strolling back again with not much either side. On Easter Monday we all popped up to see Jen and went out for lunch to the local pub. And I deposited Mary with her in-laws yesterday. It was all v easy.

I love Bradley Stoke

Work-wise, the final edit of book 8 (still no title, sorry) has been done, and the script has been sent to 5 beta readers (bless them). I think I missed out a couple of days in the plot, these things happen. I don’t think it’s obvious (or important) unless you’re actually writing stuff down to check. It’s the first time this has happened because I’m usually scrupulous with dates and days. (I thought I was this time.) But, there may be a gap. I’ll see if the betas pick it up. All manner of titles have come to me: Harder They Fall; All Laid Bare, are just two. C and I will come up with something whilst we’re away. I hope so.

And I’ve had a couple of consultancy calls, which is nice. I know I could really step this up again if I wanted to but, as I said a couple of blogs ago, I am purposefully not worrying about work. Just writing. That’s it. No need to do anything else. We don’t really need to money. It will just wear me out. I love it when I’m doing it, but get frustrated when it’s in the calendar. I’ve retired. Etc.

There was a moment earlier in the week when I said to C that we should bin Ireland for our forthcoming trip and head over the Channel and find the warmest place in Europe. We have plenty of Schengen days left and, as you know with us, we like nothing more than browning your knees. However that thought didn’t last and yesterday we booked the ferry to Ireland for Tuesday, coming back four weeks later. And we are really looking forward to it. Costs? Well if you have a big MH, your looking at around £400 return provided you’re prepared to travel in the middle of the night (probably £100 more if you travel during the day. Lots more if you go in the summer.). But C used our Tesco vouchers, where you can get 3:1 on Irish Ferries and, as a result, the cost fell to £138. Which, if consider we were looking at about £300 in diesel to get to Glasgow to start our usual Scotland tour, has worked out really well. I have to tell you that we’re both really looking forward to it. And I sense that, now Scotland is uber busy with MHs and caravans, this might be our new Easter escape. We’ll let you know.

We’ve been making some stuff for Doris

We’re off to a memorial service tomorrow and then, on Sunday, I’m getting up early for a day trip to see mum. We always plan on 4/5 weeks between visits and though we were with her not long ago, if we don’t see her before we came back from Ireland, that gap would be closing in on two months … and I’m not having that.

Oh, and I’ve picked up the guitar again. I knew you’d be happy about that.

Keep safe. Deaths from covid are very high (600 yesterday), but according to the ONS numbers are now coming down. We may just be over the hill. I really, really hope so for all of our sakes.

Lady who lunches

Bloody people

So His Borisness broke the law. At least once, and likely three more times (not all of the fines are out; more parties to investigate). And he lied to parliament. There is no other way to describe it. It turns out that Downing Street is the most fined street in the UK. Well, there’s a thing. And, of course, the man’s not shifting. ‘I didn’t know’. ‘To the best of my abilities’. ‘It’s clear to me now that the police have investigated’. ‘Ambushed by a birthday cake’. ‘It was only 9 minutes …’. ‘Only doing what hospital staff and teachers did at the end of a long day.’ If this were your child you’d be having very strong words with them about the need to own up to their mistakes, apologise properly and take whatever the appropriate punishment is with good grace.

To throw us off the scent they’re going to dispatch refugees on a one-way trip to Rwanda. Apparently this is going to stop the traffickers from delivering these poor people in boats. Of course it won’t. And it’ll be blooming expensive (the Australian model costs £1.2 million per person … enough, according to a senior civil servant, to put the adults up at the Ritz and send the children to Eton). And it’s unlikely to happen. But it feeds the Conservative faithful at a time when they’re not sure Boris is necessarily a safe bet for the next election. But, let’s face it, it’s all very UKIP … very English National Party. Pretty racist. Practically, leaving aside the majority of those crossing the channel who are, by law, allowed to stay after processing, we need economic migrants. We always have, but even more so now that we have a staff shortage due to Brexit. And there are plenty of good news stories about Syrians becoming doctors, and Afghanis driving our buses (I’m not making any judgements here). And, for the love of God, why are we giving our money to a country which has a questionable civil rights history, which will likely be a bottomless pit, when we could be building and manning equivalent centres here in the UK? We’ve known about the problem for long enough.

I’m sorry, but I find the whole thing, in fact nearly everything about this government, distasteful. There is no plan. There are only three word slogans. There is no ambition. There is only crisis management … and they’re not very good at that. At all.

my last friends have left me

Anyhow. We’ve had a week of things. On Monday we went to Bristol and had lunch with E&A in the Cathedral. On the way there we bought C a new pair of swanky binos for our upcoming trip to Ireland (all of May, we hope). I also got two new shirts. They’re the colourful ones made of patches, which I’ve been looking for for a while. We found them in Brissol’s covered market. Although I paid for two and only brought one home. I’m not quite sure how that happened and I don’t want to cast aspersions on the woman who sold me the gear. The good news is that after an email exchange I cycled into town yesterday and collected a similar shirt for free. [Interestingly they have CCTV so they could have checked, even after I prompted them. But I don’t think they did. I’ll leave that there …]

E WhatsApp’d me on Tuesday to say both she and A had tested positive for covid (she had a bad cold on Monday). I assumed we would catch it and symptoms would present themselves about now, but so far both of us are clear (we tested ourselves this morning). The thing is I’m pretty convinced I caught it at the end of our French trip, which I then passed to C. Both of us had mild symptoms but our LFTs were clear. Hopefully that’s the case and we might remain free of this dreaded disease for a good while. You might not know but we’re still dying in our hundreds in this country. I saw a chart just now which had us above the US in covid deaths, noting that their population is 5 times ours.

new hair … new cake

C has had her hair done (split ends – tick) and, and this is not connected, she’s been baking for Europe – we have Mary coming for Easter and cake is a must. I’m picking her up from Godalming tomorrow.

Oh, and we had a fab time with the Clements. They had their teacher son down for the weekend. We spent most of our time trying to fix an old car of theirs. And then cleaning their pond filter and setting up a hydroponic system on top of it, once it was cleared. Lettuces all round. I learnt a lot … and we, as we always do, had a fab time walking, running, chatting, and generally putting the world to rights.

new covers

And we’ve started recovering Doris’s seats. It’s been a pending job for a while. We’re not quite there yet, but it’ll be done before we go to Ireland. Under the bonnet I have tried to take the starter motor off, but there’s too much rust on one of the nuts for me to get the job done easily. I’ll buy a decent brand one and get it fitted in the winter (when it’s at its most problematic) when I get the MoT done.

Anyhow. Have a fab break. Stay safe. You know we lost Kevin almost exactly two years ago, when the disease was awful and the treatment naive. But people are still dying. And they’re dying of covid. And, if you’ll excuse too many ‘ands’, those who do get it and don’t need hospitalisation, most have a really unpleasant time. Some succumb afterwards with the prevalence of blood clots and other horrible illnesses. So, keep safe. Please.

Some things …

I forgot to tell you that we had the men round the other day to put in our cavity wall insulation. It started in January with a doorstep visit by a woman with a clipboard. Three months later (it would have been sooner if we hadn’t been in Chatel) we had three guys with a truck round filling our walls with little plastic balls. The whole things took an hour and a half … and cost us nothing. I don’t unnecessarily boast about having the work done for free – paid for by the council – because we can afford it. I mention it because there may be some of you out there who could benefit from free cavity wall insulation. We qualified because of the age of the house and the fact that we’re electric only. I don’t know the rules, but it’s worth investigating. Interestingly, and I know it’s getting warmer, we’ve only had to put the bar fire on once in the evening since we’ve had the work done. Result. (They reckon there’s a 30% saving in central heating costs.)

Some blokes and a pipe

We’ve also had two trips up to see Jen. Her list of ailments (bless her) have continued to grow. She now has gastroperisis, which prevents her stomach from emptying properly – she’s being sick an awful lot, losing weight she can’t afford to lose, and is lethargic. It’s a combination of a number of things, but includes the fact that she has floppy joints (there’s a proper name for that). Anyhow, as she waits for the NHS to clear its backlog we designed some eating patterns and foodstuffs (low fat and low fibre, the opposite of which hangs about in your tummy for a bit) and went out and filled the cupboards. I couldn’t resist going into teacher mode and producing some posters to remind her what works, and what doesn’t. I can report that so far, so good …

Our Jen Chew and walk!

We’ve got two outstanding jobs on the van. First we’re resurrecting the seat covers. My attempt a couple of years ago has begun to show its age and C wants to get involved this time. More to follow on that. From a mechanical point of view, I’ve installed a proper battery charger for the vehicle battery. And, having looked under the bonnet I’d say the starter motor needs a look at. I’m thinking of replacing it myself (£100) as opposed to getting a mechanic around to do it (£250). There’s no oil involved, it’s just plug and play. However, as you can see from the photo, there’s a bit of rust which might present a problem. I’ll let you know how it goes.

this might need replacing

I’m close to finishing the final edit of book 8 (still no name yet). I’m going to have that done by Easter, after which it’ll go to my beta readers and then, Julia, my proofreader. Hopefully it will be out in July. And I’ve started conversations with some of my army pal’s friends and relatives as I build a back story for the biography I’m ghost writing for his trip through Africa (with Parkinson’s). I have been busy … of sorts.

And we had old army pals, Daren and Karen, around for supper on Tuesday. They have a Hymer like ours and are heading off into the sunset in September for some extended touring. We always have a lot to talk about and notes to compare. Tuesday was no different. They are lovely people and we hope to tour with them (probably Nordkapp, won’t that be fab?) sometime in the future.

We’re off to Dover this weekend to stay with Richard and Caroline. It’s going to be an interesting journey … we might have to leave a couple of hours early.

Over 300 people died with covid yesterday. I think the hospital admissions are levelling out and, as a result, the deaths will do the same and eventually drop. But it is something when we can lose close to 2,000 people a week, easily the worst killer in the country, and now consider it to part of our life. I have to say, I don’t get it. But I know I’m in the minority.

Have a lovely weekend.

this is nice …