Rick’s 60th

Hi Mum 

thought you might like to see these  

Here we are cruisin’

from Copenhagen to Oslo overnight with a whole lot of other people. We are in Commodore class which means we have a window and as it happens we are at the front so we can see anything in our path - there are so many ships on the horizon!  

This is our selfie on the deck - so windy and we had to pay for our drinks! We are in Commodore class so we can get free WiFi and free drinks in the lounge. We have a room with a window and it is as big if not bigger than most of the hotels we have stayed in ! That is the bridge or some part of the boat behind us. It was so windy and there was this music blaring at us so we adjourned to our room

Dad is in the Commodores lounge drinking free beer - he plans to put some in his back pack!! I am going to Have some mineral water.

we have had our buffet dinner - the problem with buffet is you can only eat so much and you can’t drink that much as the prices are pretty pricey! The good thing is that there is a fridge in the room that works and they have put some drinks in there for us to have. 

Wemyss Bay and then Aviemore

So we left Plockton and started driving to Wemyss Bay which was a fair way and was to be further as we planned to take the scenic route combined with a ferry trip but after a couple of hours driving we changed our minds and decided to take the shorter route. I was regretting that we would miss scenery but I needn’t have worried as you don’t drive anywhere much in Scotland that there is not scenery. Perhaps in the south west. 

We stayed 2 nights at the Inverkip Hotel which was a refurbished hotel near Drew’s. Very nice although the room was pretty small. One of the proprietors had lived and worked in the hospitality industry in Melbourne for 2 years. I asked where and he said Attica. I am not sure about that but he could do coffee so that was a treat!

We had tea at Drew’s that Friday and Saturday night and Saturday day Claire, Beth, Dad and I went into Glasgow for a walk around whilst Andy and Drew took Solomon and Abigail for haircuts at Andy’s sister’s, Susan salon. ( my punctuation is all wrong there! Not sure how to fix it). 

Sunday we all met up with Susan and her husband, Jim, and Norman, Andy’s brother, for a lunch and then Dad and I drove to Aviemore in the Cairngorms. 

More scenic scenery!!  We had 5 whole days in Aviemore which was pretty relaxing.  The first day we had a look around the town and went on a steam engine ride. Here is a picture of the train

and the station 

one day we drove to visit a couple of towns which included 2 woollen mills where I bought some wool. We also visited a town called Nairn and its golf club where Andy’s grandfather used to be the Captain. The manager showed us their memorabilia room which was very interesting with all that had been collected over 125 years. Here are a couple of photos 

we went for a couple of walks around the lochs and a few drives. Dominic came up on Wednesday night and stayed with us till the Monday. He played golf with Dad - Andy caddied. 

On saturday, we parted ways with Claire Andy and the girls driving part way back to Romsey whilst we drove to a town near Stirling where we stayed in a hotel which was almost like a palace!  well not quite but still very nice.

On Sunday morning, dad and Dominic drove to Carnoustie after dropping me at the station to catch the train to Edinburgh. It was only 49 minutes away and it seemed quite weird to just think - well I will go to Edinburgh today because I can!

Repost!

Hi all

Due to popular demand, here is that photo of some McInerney’s, Ollason’s and a Croyden drinking in a pub...  and some other events on the weekend in Romsey and surrounds.

Meet Dobby. Gabriella’s new doggy

Odds and ends

Just clearing up our first week in Scotland with a few photos - 

when we returned to Mull from Iona, we took the scenic route - where isn’t scenic - and drove past this interesting sight

Perhaps we should buy one these rather than an apartment- we will use it longer!! 

Here is the story If you can read it.  Google It otherwise. 

and to round it off. The mausoleum was about 500ms down a lane which we couldn’t drive down and in this large fenced enclosure. Quite amazing really. And we didn’t just drive past accidentally, Bernard Shea had sent me an article about it quite a while ago and I think it was mentioned in Lonely Planet! God bless guide books!!

Now a few photos of some native species  

See how close I am to the coo - there is a wire fence between us! 

Such cute sheep- the little black faced sheep were very cute  

This is a heilan coo

On to Plockton

which is near the Isle of Skye. More amazing scenery. The west side of Scotland is certainly scenic. It is beautiful. We stayed at a little town just a short distance from Skye. We stayed in the Plockton Hotel looking over a loch. It was very pretty. We arrived mid afternoon after leaving Mull at 7.00am and catching 2 ferries and driving through special countryside  

Our room in the hotel was nice and roomy and the best thing was that we could put our washing in a bag and they returned it all nicely dry and folded the same day and all for free! We had a lovely walk around the village and surrounds that first afternoon before having tea at the hotel. 

The walk

lovely bush land 

the castle across the loch

the town. Great little place with a couple of pubs, couple of coffee shops, fish and chip shop and a couple of others , surrounded by beautiful scenery. 

This car was parked in the town as were3 porche cars. We think they were owned by Russian oligarchs!

the next day we went for a drive around the Isle of Skye visiting a couple of wool shops. The countryside is just amazing. I took a few photos but they just don’t do it justice. 

These are a couple of photos of the town of Portree- the main town on the island.  

the harbour

A lovely day on Ulva

there was another ferry ride this morning after a beautiful drive on one lane road. To get the ferry to come across, you had to move a board on a sign so that a red square showed to signal to the ferryman there were people waiting for a ride. The ferry was just a little boat with an outboard motor. The first thing we did was to visit the restaurant and had lovely coffee and cake.  It looks quiet there at 10am but later when we returned from our walk, it was really busy. People come for lunch especially. 

An old tractor rusting away

beautiful Trees on our walk 

thistles have been everywhere 

and heathers 

views across the mull sound

a little poem on a cairn

a bothy- we didn’t get quite that far but did walk about 8ks

this is the connection with Australia!

this View was so much better in reality 

the local church for the 6 people who lived on the island of Ulva. 

and that was our trip to Mull. We finished off by going to a great fish restaurant in Tobermory. 

The next day we went to Iona

we caught a 15 minute ferry to this island. It is famous because St Columba landed here from Ireland to christianise Scotland. There is an Abbey which was partly demolished during the Reformation but has been rebuilt. We were a little underwhelmed by this island. It felt a little too touristy- we were amongst 1000s of tourists. We did a walk through the Abbey ending up in the shop which was very polished  with little furry bears dressed as monks and heaps of other merchandise with the Iona brand - all quite tasteful but I suspect most of it was imported. 

We went for a walk to the headland but that was a bit ho-hum.  Some photos:

The nunnery

The pilgrims stopped here on the way to the abbey.  

Here is the abbey  

Gravestones  

Inside of the abbey.  

St Columba slept on a stone pillow and someone found a stone which was thought to be his but it was not so but they have kept this one anyway. 

An interesting sculpture.  

And that was Iona. I was thinking it would ‘feel’ more spiritual but not so. 

Birthday boy

Hi all

Sam had his birthday yesterday. Big party, great fun and his beanie arrived Mum

Finishing day one on Mull

here are last photos of our walk  - the standing stones and a coo - I took this photo a long way from the coo!

the castle

Another feature in the Main Street of Tobermory. 

You take the high road and I’ll take the low road

and I’ll be in Scotland before ye!

and here we are. We flew to Glasgow on Saturday, picked up a hire car and drive via 2 ferries to the Isle of Mull. We were hardly out of Glasgow before we were in amongst beautiful scenery and haven’t been out of it in 5 days. We stayed in a hostel just out of Tobermory which was something different for us. The rooms were ensuite, breakfast was supplied in a common room. It was all terrific really, a bit old but really clean and well supplied with everything you needed if you wanted to cook a 3 course meal - we didn’t!  And then the view from the dining room was magnificent - with little black sheep in the paddock!

The isle of Mull is magnificent. Everywhere we went the scenery was stupendous. We had wonderful drives all over the island - on one track roads with passing places - a bit hairy at times. There were some lovely walks as well. Our first night, we had dinner at the Mishnish Hotel as we did for the next 2 nights! Our first day, we had a walk out of Tobermory around a loch and back into town. It was great. 

lily pads over the loch. 

and these are some snaps of Tobermory, a very pretty town all beautifully painted. There were some good restaurants, craft shops and boat tours to visit the smaller islands to see whales and birds. 

After that walk we went to a farm shop at a castle,  which is now a hotel, for lunch then had another walk to see some ruins of a fortress which were just some old rocks but we did see some standing stones and some nice cows. 

Continuing the flower theme.

dad shutting all the gates!

I will have to continue this tomorrow as it doesn’t seem to let me add more photos. 

The birthday boy

Happy Birthday Jun and once again thanks to Carmel for organising cakes cuff links etc

And where are we now?

No, we are not staying at the Ritz!  At the moment we are in Dad’s club - the ROSL - otherwise known as the Razzle of  London.

We have had a very nice time since we returned from Spain. We met up with some friends from Salisbury for lunch in Romsey on the Wednesday. Andy’s father Drew arrived that night for a few days. On Thursday, Dad dragged him off to Southampton to look for a suit to wear to the races. They were very successful as you saw from the photo of Dad and Dominic. After that, we all went to Winchester. On Friday, the 3 of us went to Dorking to view a National Trust property called Polesden Lacey. A bit of a trek but interesting house. 

Saturday, dad went off on the train to Ascot.  He had a lovely day as he won on the last race!

Solomon came over and Claire, Andy, the girls, Drew and I went to lunch at a pub on the river. 

This is in the garden we are sitting in for tea overlooking Green Park. Can you see the roller - in all the best gardens!

Sunday was relaxing with another BBQ. Claire was home Monday and we had our weekly visit to Winchester. Drew went home that night. 

Tuesday dad went off to play golf and I mucked about at Claire’s. Wednesday was another day visiting an old house which belonged to Walter Raleigh- he of the cloak on a puddle for the queen to walk on and also the man who introduced tobacco to UK. 

Thursday, dad tried to catch up with his friends at Romsey golf club but they had a day off. It might have been too hot! 

Friday dad played golf again whilst I met up with a lady from Romsey for lunch. 

Now in London, we have just been strolling about really.  I went off to visit Liberty shop and stroll through Burlington Arcade.  Tuesday morning I walked the perimeter of Hyde Park while Dad waited for the washing to finish. That was a bit of an experience as the machines are cashless but you have to download an app then scan a barcode. We sorted it eventually after having to register, sign up, put in credit card details etc Such a pain! The cashless society is a bit tedious at times.  

The breakfast was very nice overlooking the Italian Gardens - Dominic’s suggestion- such a Londoner! 

We went off wandering- dad looking for a golf shop, me to wander through Mayfair and to visit a church where they had a free lunchtime concert - very beautiful! 

These elephants were in a park celebrating summer - not sure about the connection.  

We went home for a bit of a rest as we were to have dinner at Rules - the oldest restaurant in London established in 1798. Delicious meal and a very pleasant experience. 

You will see from the photo that it is daylight- the latest booking available was 5.30 - the next was 8.45- too late for us. We were out by 7.30! 

This is one of the rooms

Today, we went walking out in the East End as far as Hackney where there’s a National Trust house. We started at Liverpool Street Station walking through Spitalfield market, down Brick Lane and on and on till we got through Hackney to the house. It was an old Tudor house so Elizabeth times as the owner had sat in judgement on Mary, Queen of Scots.

On the way there, we stopped at this delightful cafe which was in an old school yard. It was delicious food and in a lovely garden. Matthew, it was mentioned in the London City Secrets - that book is a gem!!

A church near the markets

After this trip, we thought we would go over and have a ride to the top of the Shard - even if it did cost 10 pounds! We found the train station, got off the train, but before we went through the barrier, stopped to make sure it was still open and saw it suggested buying tickets. It turns out it cost 32pounds each so we thought ‘jam that’ and decided to keep coming on to the Rozzle where we are now. On the way we visited a wine shop which was opened in 1698 by a family who still run it. The floor of the old shop is sloping and there is a telegram from the owners of the ‘Titanic’ advising of the sinking of the ship and its cargo of wine!  

The next little detour was down a narrow passage to Pickering Place which is about 12 meters square. 

The wine shop - 

The sun dial in Pickering place

And now we are about to have tea before going to our accommodation near Hyde Park. We are staying in student digs at the Imperial College of London (Claire’s find). It is in a great spot just near the great museums which are truly magnificent. And our room looks over the Uni  Bar!  You can imagine what it was like last night when England was playing Columbia! Fortunately, the windows were double glazed and shut the noise out!  

We are back to Romsey tomorrow and then up to Scotland on Saturday.  

Dinner at Dee and Dans

Hi

hope everyone’s well. We had a bit of a catchup at Dan and Dee’s tonight.  Dan managed to get the kids attention for long enough to snap a couple of shots

Solomon’s birthday

Solomon came round for his birthday lunch yesterday and had a lovely day - we went to the Boot Inn on the Test River (very picturesque) and then back to ours for pirate cake thanks to Abi’s help.   Thanks for the presents - he loved them. 

First Communion

Sam had his first communion today. Pretty happy about wearing a suit, wants to wear it all day.

Last town - Bilbao and a great way to finish!

We decided to leave San Sebastián a day early and spend the night in Bilbao. We caught a train instead of the bus and it was a beautiful trip. It reminded me of the mountainous countryside of Japan. It took twice as long but worth the time. 

 We stayed in a very posh hotel across the road from the Guggenheim museum.  It was great looking out over this amazing building and a big floral dog.  

I loved the museum. It was such a great building and the art exhibitions were really something. 

We went for a walk along the river, through the old town and then through the commercial Centre.  

In the morning we had a very nice breakfast at the hotel and then over to the museum where I stayed there for about 3 hours. and then back to UK. 

our posh hotel - we were on 5th floor

The dog we could see from our window

Photos of the building from all angles

From our room

Such an amazing building and worth reading how it came about and also about the architect 

And sculptures from my walk along the river.  

They love a building with a huge thing on top.  

This was the fitness thing along the river. I didn’t use it but I thought it was a great idea. 

This was under the bridge

And that was the end of the trip. It was great. The towns were fabulous. And now we are back in Romsey. Dominic picked us up and brought us back here.  

We are now having another bbq on the back deck and we have Andy’s dad, Drew, here too. We will be celebrating Solomon’s birthday on Saturday. 

I should tell tell you Dominic has invited Dad to Ascot on Saturday so a new suit and shirt has been bought from Marks and Spencer’s for the occasion. So keep an eye out on the news for Dad and Dominic frolicking with the Queen. 

Day 2 in San Sebastian-Donostia

That is the name used here as it is Basque Country and Donastia is its Basque version. A lot of signage is in in Spanish and Basque. Not that we knew the difference as we spoke neither! 

The next day we went for a beautiful walk over the mountain to the next town. It was a beautiful walk, bit steep at first up 200 steps but then it was very picturesque. Of course, I don’t know how we managed it but we were lost for a part of it. A very friendly man put us back on track. I think we are so careful about watching where we put out feet so that we don’t fall over that we we don’t watch where we are going!  Anyway it was great. I think it is a Sunday activity as when we were back on track we met heaps of people going the other way. 

When we got there w caught a little ferry across the inlet and had lunch there.  

a view back over San Sebastian-Donostia 

The walk although not all like this - few boulders etc but very manageable.  

Old viaduct  

Silver lighthouse  

Coming out on the other side of the mountain  

I was pretty excited to find these next. I am thinking that if I add all the bits of the Camino that I have walked I might qualify for a shell. 

The town on the other side. They were having some sort of festival with lots of music over loudspeakers and kids holding big flags.  

We caught the bus back to San Sebastian-Donostia after we had lunch on the pier.  

That night we went back to a bar we visited last night just to be safe. And that was San Sebastian-Donostia.  

San Sebastián

What a pretty place!  We arrived mid- afternoon and booked into the pension. I was a bit annoyed with the accommodation as I thought it had a little sitting area in the bedroom but as it was you could hardly fit the cases in there. Anyway, we went off for the usual walk around the town and visit to the TI for a map. We had booked a food tour which went from 6-9 and was good fun. We visited 6 bars and had at least 12 pinxos which were delicious and 6 smallish drinks. It was good fun as the tour leader was a bit of fun and the other 4  people were very pleasant. In fact, Dad swapped addresses with a man who lived in Sydney and played golf. 

Here we we all are at the end of the night. We all kissed each other goodbye!

Here are some sights of the town.  

A bit of sculpture  

Lovely beaches.  Beautiful sand. 

Building that survived fire in 1813  

Town hall at night. 

Statue is on top of mountain is of Christ.  

Always plenty of sculptures in European towns.  

The town was burnt down when Spanish and English were trying to get Napoleon out of Spain. 

lovely gardens in the Centre of town. 

and that was our day.