Petworth House & Chichester - 30th Oct ‘19

After 3 pretty full travelling days, it’s nice to be having a more relaxed day today. We both have colds and coughs so, even though we are sleeping well enough, the journeys have taken it out of us a bit.

The lazy morning and rather splendid mushroom omelette were appreciated equally as much. As I mentioned yesterday, the site is immaculate and well run but then .... so was Colditz! Maybe the European laissez faire approach to campsite rules has turned me, but it all just feels a bit too clinical and controlled. Can’t really find anything to complain about though so I’ll just shut up!

The day is cold but pleasant. Even the odd ray or two of sunshine. We did also notice how dry it is down here. They clearly didn’t have the rain that we had in the last couple of weeks?!

We decided to go to a National Trust property this afternoon and, after consulting the book, we chose Petworth House. It was only about 15 miles away through the most beautiful of countryside - the South Downs.

The house is magnificent but rather too much like an art gallery and less like a home for our liking.
I’m clearly changing as I get older- when I was younger I was just in awe of these wonderful old buildings and the grand lives that the owners lived in them. Now I find myself getting quite cross with the clear inequalities and injustice of it all! It’s enough to make you vote Labour!?

The grounds were fabulous and we enjoyed a walk around the lake and the Capability Brown designed Pleasure Grounds just as much, if not more than the house tour.

The house is wonderfully placed right in the centre of the delightful little town of Petworth. You literally walk out the back door of the servants quarters and you’re at the top of the high street.

As the NT cafe was very busy we headed for town and found a great coffee shop called Coco Cafe and Sugar Lounge https://m.facebook.com/cococafeuk. The food was excellent and the coffees good enough to be Italian. I had a cheese ploughman’s which was a bit of a risk as I’ve had a few stinkers over the years - no need to worry it was perfect, especially the bread.

We squeezed in this food & drink break in between the house and the grounds. So after the long walk they were just about starting to lock up and we were one of the last out of a very busy car park.

We thought it would be a nice end to the day to visit Chichester. We managed to get a quick look around the Cathedral before a 5.30 evening service. It was all very atmospheric as we strolled around the cloisters and then the main street as shops were shutting down and restaurants getting busy.

We were more tired than hungry so we headed home on some very busy roads to Brunnehilda.
We fancied a cup of tea and film in bed - so that’s just what we did. How very decadent?!

The film was The Favourite with Queen Anne being played by Olivia Colman and Lady Marlborough by Rachel Weis. It was enjoyable but a bit of a sudden and unexpected ending. The one word film reviewer that is Mrs Pitts, summed it up as “strange”.

Ferry from Caen and Littlehampton - 29th Oct ‘19

Up early again and another familiar activity- packing up Brunnehilda in the drizzle /rain. By 7 we had left the campsite by 5 past we were in a rather chaotic series of queues. When we eventually got in it was a smashing vessel - but only seemed about half full.

It had 2 cinemas and a couple of restaurants. A bit of a misunderstanding and we missed the start of Downton Abbey so we settled down to an English breakfast, a bit of reading, a bit of napping and then a bit of lunch. A very easy and pleasant 6 hour sailing - arriving at Portsmouth at 1.15pm (local time!).

UK Customs seemed to be in overdrive - checking every van, motor home and caravan. The girl poked her head in Brunnehilda and got me to open the XC60 boot. We were confronted by a large body shaped bag with Isabella written on it in big letters - gulp, I braced  myself! Now I’m no customs officer but I would have thought given the circumstances a body shaped bag in the boot with Isabella written on it would have at least been worth a prod? It wasn’t! She glanced around the boot, thanked me and we went on our way - onto the M27 and Littlehampton. Only about 40 mins away.

The Littlehampton Caravan Club Site is exceptional nice. It’s clean, immaculately kept and laid out in straight lines with ample regularly placed facilities. A pleasant and extremely efficient lady told us exactly (and I mean exactly!) how to set up our van on the pitch. Nothing to complain about but I have to say I miss the French / Italian smile and casual instructions to park where and how we liked!

Set up is getting bloody quick now - like a Formula 1 team changing a set of tyres. We’ve only been caravanning for 4 months but we’ve probably done more set ups and pack ups than most would have done in 3 or 4 years!?

We found a huge Sainos - the current supermarket of choice- in nearby Bognor. And what a whopper, happiness definitely is a fully stocked Sainos. Walking round buying bread, milk, eggs and all the normal stuff we both noticed how much cheaper most stuff is in the UK!

We had a drive around Littlehampton as the Autumnal evening closed in. And blimey it’s bloody cold! We may be used to the rain but we’ve not had to face cold on the recent trip. So much so that we’ve had to read Brunnehilda’s heating system instructions again and get the fire / fan kicked off.

We found an Indian restaurant in the centre of town - the Little Magna. We literally walked in as they opened the door at 5.30. The waiter told us the chef was held up in traffic but he would only be 15 mins. 45 mins later he rushed in and we finally got our food at 6.45. It was worth the wait though. I had an excellent King Prawn curry dish and Kim’s Vegetable Malay was rather good too.

I’m currently reading Eric Idle’s autobiography. It’s a real giggle and full of very impressive celebrity stories. Not normally the stuff I like but I have to say he’s very funny - wish I guess you might expect

Back to Brunnehilda to warm up. A cup of tea, Spots on the sound system and a game of canasta.
Eat your heart out Mr Idle. Who needs drinking and partying stories with Mike Jagger, Robin Williams, Billy Connolly,  George Harrison and David Bowie when you’ve got that!?!

To bed dreaming of our Sanremo view out the kitchen window ....

Long journey from Clermont Ferrand to Caen - 28th Oct ‘19

Very few pictures on today’s blog because frankly, there is nothing to show you!

Up early and on the road by 7.30am. Arrived at Port of Caen at 5pm - 390 miles later.

- Volvo went superbly.

- Brunnehilda behaved herself.

- Toll roads good albeit expensive (I reckon tolls have been £200 each way!)

- 3 Aire stops- one horrible croissant and one half decent fish and chips

- The Co-pilot was excellent - apart from losing a toll ticket but I don’t think that cost us anymore than it should have done? Mentioning lost things ... I’ll update you on the glasses mystery later.

Seriously on the last point ... people said that putting up an awning together was “divorce in a bag” but I was never too concerned - as it turns out correctly. But Kim and I were both a little wary about 8 hours a day driving together. We really shouldn’t have worried - we worked well as a team on all the hazards (and by jingo, there were a lot) that were thrown at us and also had lots of fun.

Eventually after a wrong turn by me we found the easier back route out to the motorway from Camping Huttopia Royat - the secret was to go through a village called Ceyrat and pick up a main road lower down. Within 30 mins we had cruise control on and heading north on the motorway.

The campsite here at Caen - Riva Bella - is all you would want and need for a one night stay. It’s within 5 mins drive of the ferry terminal, adequate toilets and a load of restaurants handy. Although the huge Carrefour did shut at 8pm!! I finished off the holiday with moule creme while Kim had oeuf  et frites. It was ok. It was very sad to see a small migrant camp (about 20 guys huddled around a fire) just at the entrance to the campsite- the poor sods, what an existence. If that’s better than where they’ve come from, just imagine where they’ve come from!?

So, as we approach the finish of our first foreign trip with Brunnehilda, here a few random reflections:

Biggest disappointment:

- Food - especially breakfasts and especially in France

- Some of the weather 

Biggest surprise - bad:

- The cost of motorway tolls

- The scary roads - especially in Italy

- Sone opening hours of restaurants and shops

Biggest surprise - good:

- How relaxed and tolerant the French and Italians are behind the wheel

- The superb flushing capacity of F&I toilets - literally nothing gets left behind ... if you know what I mean?

- Quality of sites - especially the Italian one

Lowlights:

- The infamous mountain road and nearly getting wedged in!

- The mud in the first 2 French sites!

Highlights:

- Swimming in the Med with my number 2 son - in all sorts of weather!

- Sitting in an Italian restaurant in the pouring rain watching couples scampering by with their brollies up - like a scene from a movie

- Having a coffee in a deserted coffee shop in an ancient medieval hill village

- Having a laugh together at all the crazy things we said, saw and did

Finally, we were struck by how nice all the folks we met we’re. The French, The Italians and the holidaying Germans. I can’t think of one person that wasn’t friendly / helpful or both. We’re all the same really with a few differences that make it fun and interesting so why on earth do 17 million Brits want to:

- vilify them

- blame them

- despise them

- criticise them 

- disassociate themselves from them 

- remove themselves from them

- find differences between themselves and them

- fear them 

Very very sad.

Breaking News:

My missing glasses turned up! Turns out it wasn’t a black hole at all. They had just managed to squeeze themselves down a gap between the wall and the mattress. I could hardly get my fingers down the gap so how the glasses got there I don’t know. Kim suggested it might be something to do with the weight distribution on my side of the bed??

Time to sleep - ferry at 8.30 am tomorrow morning.

Journey Home, Avignon to Clermont Ferrand - 27th Oct ‘19

A funny sort of a day - mostly travelling with the normal Sat Nav caused stress (when will we lever learn?) and a bit of a mystery to finish with.

Considering we were parked up in an Aire outside Avignon (yes, the place with the “pont”!), we slept remarkable well - and the clocks gave us an extra hour! We were breakfasted in the nice little cafe in the modern service area and on the road by 9.45am. We read many internet warnings about overnight stops at Aires but I have to say it really worked for us. There was a separate parking area for motor homes and caravans - Brunnehilda was the only one there last night!

No filter on the camera - just morning mist 

More good news - our faith in French bread has been restored - we had a gorgeous croissant and baguette which set us up up well for the morning drive. Unlike the 17.4 million, I’m big enough to know when I’ve called something wrong. Vive le pans!

The motorways are so easy to drive on - compared to what we’ve been used to down south. And as there are no lorries on French roads on a Sunday, I just put her in cruise control at 55 and we travelled for miles and miles without any effort at all. Because we broke the back of this journey last night, we only had about 240 miles left to do.

That said, we did hit our second French motorway traffic jam as we turned “left” at Lyon. We passed around St Ettiene, which looked a bit like Birmingham from the M6, and found somewhere to lunch as soon as we were back heading north. More culinary French Aire success and even time to read our books for a bit - although we had to park up with the HGVs!

The afternoon drive was amazing. We travelled about 60 kms through the most fabulous wooded mountain area - around a town called Thiers. Kim later impressively informed me that it was The Massif Central, the 3rd biggest mountain range in France with the largest peak 1,500 feet taller than Ben Nevis. I suspect the suspiciously long time lapse between the drive and the forthcoming information suggested it maybe Wikipedia to be more impressed with than Mrs Pitts!?

Copyright Wikipedia

We arrived about 5 miles from the campsite at Clermont-Ferrand at about 4pm - which is when disaster struck... again. I hadn’t checked Percy and once again he had chosen a crazy route - right through the middle of the city! Luckily it was a Sunday afternoon and not too bad - but for Kim’s eagle eye spotting a street that had a no caravan sign showing, I think we would have gotten ourselves deeper into the mire though!? So we had to make our own route to the site / taking about 45 mins to do those last 5 miles!

The site (Camping Huttopia at Royat) is really nice - as with most of the French sites it is due to shut down at the end of the month so it’s only about 1/10th full and lots of facilities are shut - pool and restaurant. The French lady host was amazingly nice and helpful. To be fair we haven’t come across a rotten French or Italian on all our trip!

After the stressful arrival we went out to fill up with fuel (that lesson has been hard learnt!) and check out the better route to the motorway that the site lady suggested. Most local restaurants seem to shut on a Sunday night but we didn’t try too hard as we were happy to have a snack and get to bed! We have the longest journey yet tomorrow- nearly 400 miles.

Now to the mystery- I couldn’t find my glasses when I woke up and i instantly knew they were lost for good! Both of us have turned the caravan upside down to find them but to no avail. And we are only talking a small caravan here not a 4 bedroom house! The current Mrs Pitts pointed out that I normally have some sort or eye disaster on holiday - who can forget the fish in Georgia who ended up with a very expensive pair of my specs after I stupidly dived into the sea forgetting I had them on! But this different - they’ve truly gone and there is no explanation- but one. I suspect there are tiny areas all over our universe that are trapdoors to another dimension / parallel universe. I think I just put them down somewhere and they slid into some sort of worm hole. That theory might also explain why so many single socks going missing and NEVER turn up.

Anyway, onto the promised pros and cons for Villaggio dei Fiori ...
Pros:
1) The position and view, yards away from the ocean.
2) A convenient and peaceful walkway into town
3) Access to the beach / sea
4) The most modern and cleanest toilet facilities ever! And so many of them!
5) The incredibly friendly and helpful staff
6) The pizza in the restaurant was sublime
7) Although, not used by us, the pool looked great
Cons:
1) It was difficult to put up an awning
2) There wasn’t enough space really for a van, a full size awning and a car - the pitches were best suited for motorhones
3) The fab pizza was only available on Fri, Sat & Sun

Overall, I would say this is by some distance the best site we have stayed at!
Ben fatto Italia!!

Relaxing in Sanremo and the start of journey home - 26th Oct ‘19

Another hot warm Italian Riviera day - our last in Italia.

And the final day was a relaxing one making the most of the hot sunshine. No doubt the last we’ll experience in 2019?

We needed to get out a wee bit earlier today as we really wanted to see Sanremo centre with everything open. So after a quick breakfast we set out for a walk into town. Gee the sun and the weekend make a big difference in this town... the cycle path was packed and the cycle hire places were opened for the first time. There was even folks in the beachside bars that had remained empty (we assumed closed?) all week.

We managed an hours shopping before things closed up. Up and down the narrow shopping streets and then into a very impressive outside and inside market. We bought stuff from several market stall - including some more local olive oil and Limincelo. Kim also got some stuff from a smashing kitchen shop called Excelsa - very friendly and helpful staff.

We ended up, as always, eating and drinking. Today was in a wee street side bar / cafe where they did a mean mushroom pizza - with frites of course!

A coffee half way home to keep us going in the heat - arriving back to Brunnehilda at about 3pm.
This gave us an hour by the sea - me swimming, Kim relaxing and reading on the rocks. Then the next hour to shower and pack up. It all took a little longer than we planned and we didn’t leave until gone 6.30pm.

We had decided to try and get a hundred miles or so done tonight before finding an Aire to grab some sleep. Readers of this blog won’t be surprised when I report that things don’t quite go to plan!
Firstly, the realised as soon as we left the camp we had forgotten to fill the car up with fuel- so we stopped to get some in a garage in town and then, thanks to some rather strange Italian parking, we had quite some fun getting back onto the road. Once we had got Brunnehilda up the long and winding road to the motorway we set off on the familiar route out of Italy - familiar because we had done it twice already with the airport run.

We started looking for a suitable Aire after 3 hours driving - about 10pm. We finally found one 90 minutes later - the fourth one we tried. The other 3 were so crammed with lorries (and confusing and conflicting signs) that we just ended driving in, driving around and driving straight out again.

We finally found one at Avignon so have put the stays down and gone straight to bed. We both have a rotten cold / cough now so I think it’s going to be a long night - and the clocks go back!
Kim’s cold seems to have gone to her stomach- if you know what I mean!? Far from the soothing sounds of a Sanremo busker?!

PS. Pros and cons of this Italian campsite in tomorrow’s blog.

A sunny day at Villaggi dei Fiori, Sanremo & a nightmare journey to Nice Airport - 25th Oct ‘1

You will remember Jim Bowen on the 70s/80s quiz show Bullseye, when the couple in the final failed to win the star prize, they would pull back the curtains to reveal a brand new Austin Ambassador or a speedboat and Jim would say with utter delight ... “let’s have a look at what you COULD have won”.

Today was our Jim Bowen moment, as on our penultimate day in Italy, normal service was resumed with the Italian Riviera weather and the sun came out!

As it was Bobby’s last day he wanted to get as much time in the sun as possible so we decided to have a lazy day staying local until it was time to take him to the airport. And, it is fair to say, in footballing cliche terms, today was definitely a day of 2 halves!

Pre 5 pm was very relaxed. Bobby and I managed 2 swims in a very calm sea.

We strolled along to get a very nice coffee, cake and slice of Pizza. French food has definitely disappointed, Italian food has been better but some elements disappointed, what has way over performed in our expectations has been the Italian coffee!

Finally we made a gorgeous Vegetable paella on the Cadac. When I say “we” ... Kim did the preparation and detailed instruction, I did the “5 year old in a kitchen” stuff of adding stuff in and stirring stuff around. I have to say we both carried out our individual duties very well! We accompanied this with some bread and the local olive oil and some local balsamic vinegar we purchased at the local supermarket - there’s something else for the list of what the Italians do well.

The non-relaxing 2nd half started soon after 5 as we headed out for Nice airport to get Bobby on his 8pm flight in plenty of time. 3 hours to do 40 miles - what could go wrong???

We decided to follow Percy (the Sat Nav) so we went on the best route up the mountain to the motorway junction. All was going well until I missed a right turn. No worries, Percy quickly and efficiently found an alternative route up the mountain. Unbeknown to us we were now set on a voyager of adventure. The narrow lanes with no passing places, the long stretches of 25% inclines and the sheer drops with no barriers were just the entree for the main meal that was to follow.

As we were approaching the end of our unexpected adventure we came across another mind blowing my steep hill but this one had houses either side rather than walls or Olive growing buildings. There was an old Italian women at the top who, considering the speed I was needing to build up to get up the hill, was worryingly slow in shifting out the way. The she held her hands up in a very dramatic fashion and made it quite clear with hand gestures that there was no way we were going to get through the gap. Kim then noticed a sign saying 1.6m - well the XC60 is over 1.9 m so the laws of physics demand only one next action .... backing down the steep hill, through this narrowing gap in the houses to find a drive to turn around in.

Bobby got out to hand signal and move stuff, that could be moved, out my way. It needed a couple of attempts and by the time I had succeeded we had quite an audience. The old woman was joined by a guy on a scooter and 3 drivers in tiny Italian cars / vans trying to get through. No one seemed very amused or empathetic- just ambivalent and slightly annoyed. And what of Kim ... well as well as the Volvo’ front, rear and side beepers going off constantly, I could hear the occasional whimper coming from the back seat - like a puppy on its way to the vets. Anyway we turned round and the journey down to the main road seemed quite tame!

Given the delay caused by this and the deadline of a plane taking off, the last thing we wanted was motorway queues .... well we got ‘em! Turns out Friday rush hour around in one of the biggest cities in France is quite congested ... who would have thought it?? Then, school boy error, we dropped him off at the wrong terminal and had to pick him back up and take him to the right one! Good news though, he got the flight! Well actually bad news, we going to miss Bobby for the last few days of our Italian adventure ... it’s been great.

The journey home was fairly uneventful save for Kim having to get out the car and helping a little old Italian  gentlemen driving a little old Italian car get through a knackered toll barrier as it clearly wasn’t taking his money and he seemed to have run out of both Euros and ideas!

By the time we got home to Brunnehilda we just wanted an easy life ... so we watched a DVD - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Skin Pie Society. Mrs Pitts, ace film reviewer, summed it up rather well in one word ... “harmless!”. After today’s fun and games, there is nothing wrong with “harmless”!!

Swimming & Walking in the rain at Villaggio dei Fiori, Sanremo - 24th Oct ‘19

Brunnehilda sits about 10 yards, as the crow flies, from the sea. This is pretty special as we constantly have the sound and smell of the crashing waves onto the rocks about 2 yards below us. However, when the storms hit it feels and especially sounds, more like you are at sea than beside it.

The weather forecast looked horrendous for today - no more thunderstorms just constant rain after a grey morning. I have to say it didn’t disappoint! Bobby and I got another pre-breakfast swim in. The wee swimming harbour was a little fierce - most early Autumn days this bay would be like a mill pond. The temperature was fine once you got in so, once again, it was a pleasant way to start the day.

No drizzle this morning so we breakfasted outside overlooking a very grey sea. Why does food taste so much better outside? Just to put it out there though, that’s not to say that Kim’s breakfasts need air to breathe light into them .... well, you know what I mean.

We decided to have a lazy day today. Although Bobby is not as programmed to idleness as his 2 old parents! He decided to hire a bike and cycle into Sanremo while we read, relaxed and abluted. He was back by the time we had finished! He had had a couple of chain emergencies so he was as as oily as he was wet - yep, the afternoon rain had arrived on time!

And it didn’t stop. It was one of those UK type days where the rain just gets stuck. To be fair, as rubbish as the weather has been on this trip this was the first time it had really stopped us in our tracks. We soon got fed up of waiting for it to stop - we tried a walk up to the supermarket, another bike ride, book reading... this beast was here to stay, you either take it on or you give into it.

We thought we’d be very British and just ignore the rain... we put on our macs, got out the brolly and at 6pm headed into town - via the well worn but rather damp ex railway track. We got as wet as a prawns in jacuzzi during the 30 mins!

Everywhere was open but there wasn’t that lovely atmosphere that you get with alfresco Mediterranean dining - it had been literally washed away! We found a nice place called Trattoria del Porto .http://www.ristorantedanicosanremo.it/ The food (pasta!) was great and they were very obliging when the menu, as normal, was very un veggie friendly. There were lots of nice little touches with the service as well - including limoncello and shortbread after coffee. Service was included on the bill but we gave them a good cash tip as well. They were delighted and the waiters shook our hands and wished us all the best on our way out. I thought at one stage one of them was going to kiss us!

The rain had finally stopped and it was a fairly pleasant walk home - albeit with slightly damp clothes! The Italians were now out in force in the centre and the place was starting to liven up again.

More red wine and canasta when we got back to Brunnehilda. Bobby is feeling a little crook - I suspect the cheap supermarket vino is hitting back!?

Are you all sitting down? The weather forecast says no rain tomorrow and we might even see the sun!! Now that calls for another red wine... or perhaps not!?

3 Gorgeous Mountain Villages (Castellar / Badalucco / Montalto) - 23rd Oct ‘19

The biggest disappointment of our current trip has not been the “changeable weather” - that was to be expected I guess - but the realisation that the French and the Italians don’t really breakfast! You can’t really buy anything nice in the supermarkets and they certainly don’t seem to eat out for breakfast. The more regular readers of this blog will know that eating is quite an important part of any Pitts’ road trip - especially breakfast!

Anyway back to the weather .... floods and deaths in Northern Italy / Southern France all over the news and by jiminy we can see why. To be honest we’ve never seen weather like this outside Florida in the rainy season!! It was very hot and humid last night with rain / drizzle most of the morning and afternoon and then .... another mind blowing thunderstorm started at about 7pm tonight and is still raging now - at midnight! Sure, it sounds much worse in Brunnehilda but the wind and rain are staggering!

Considering the awful weather we’ve really had a nice day!? The rain did stop between 1 and 4 and that’s when we were out in it. Afternoon is good for us as we don’t get out until lunchtime but it’s not good in Italy ... everywhere shuts down between 2 and 5pm so it’s hard to find shops / restaurants open at this time.

After a very late “wake up” this morning, Kim made breakfast while Bobby and I went for a swim in the drizzle. A refreshing way to wake up to a new day.

After breakfast and ablutions it was pushing 1pm when we left the camp. Frustratingly we had to breakfast in Brunnehilda as a lack of awning / canopy drove us in from the rain.

We thought we might escape some of the weather by going inland. I found 3 interesting mountain villages to visit - all within a 25 mile round trip. Actually it wasn’t a round trip more up and down and up and down and then up and down again!

First Village: Castellaro 

We zig zagged up a 3 mile road from the coast with some gorgeous scenery but terrifyingly scary drops. It was certainly worth it. A maze of tiny streets (well paths to be fair) with ancient medieval houses all crowded round. As always with a very impressive church on top - although this one was locked.

We managed to find a coffee shop open so had a really enjoyable Italian coffee. Kim took a fancy to the teaspoon and asked the lady if she could buy it. She was a bit taken aback by the request but when she realised what Kim was after she just let her take it. So much more civilised than slipping it sneakily into your handbag!

Second Village: Badalucco

To get to this one we had to drive down from the other one then we followed a very impressive river up into the mountains about 7 or 8 miles. This road wasn’t as hairy as the other one as we seemed to be going up at the same rate as the river was tumbling down. The town was a weird little place. The drizzle had started again, everywhere was shut apart from a number of dodgy looking bars with a lot of “mountain men” hanging around! We found a gorgeous square with an old church open for visitors. There was a cafe  / restaurant there which would have been superb but of course ... it was shut!

Kim found one place open. A little old lady seemed to have just opened her kitchen and front room as a shop. She was selling home made soap and olive oil she had made / pressed herself. Needless to say we bought some stuff.

Third Village: Montalto Ligure

More zig zag hairpin bends climbing dramatically up the mountain - about 3 miles deeper into the interior than Badalucco. This one was the most amazing of the 3. Even more of a labyrinth of ancient lanes than the first but virtually no one around and nothing open.

The highlight was finding an absolutely disgusting toilet (we were desperate!) and a lovely restaurant - the toilet was open but of course the restaurant was shut!

We got down the mountain and were back on the coast by 5pm. A quick visit to a big supermarket / centre (it reminded us all of Weston Favell Shopping Centre, so not good!) and then back to Brunnehilda as it was getting dark.

We went up to the campsite restaurant for tea. We all had pasta as pizza wasn’t available - not a problem though as it was very very good. Kim squeezed in some washing and drying during the meal!

On the way walking back to the van the storm kicked in big time.

When we got back Bobby had a bottle of red wine I had a bottle of Belgian beer and Kim hit the aqua! We tried to teach Bobby canasta but to be honest it would have been easier teaching a chimp to crochet! Not sure if it was the red wine or our explanation? After the experience Bobby did express some empathy for Rachel though - she’s been very patient over the years as we’ve taught her all sorts of odd card games.

Let’s finish the blog on a high weather wise... although the storm rages on at the moment it was a glorious sunny week last week and it’s due to be another glorious sunny week next week so that’s a bit of luck eh?